Spurred on in China (August 19, 2008)

Second quarter results showed Spur Ventures (SVU-T, SPVEF-O) to be well on its way to becoming a key fertilizer supplier to the booming Chinese market.

The company announced a loss of US$999,000 or 1.7 per share compared with a loss of $1.4 million or 2.4 per share for the second quarter of 2007. Profits were higher at US$107,000 compared with US$90,000 in 2007.

It finished the period with cash at hand of US$24.2 million with more on the way in the form of a US$11.34 million investment by the Chinese firm Zhong Chuan. Two principals of Zhong Chuan will be appointed to Spur’s board once the financing has been completed at the end of August.

In Toronto on Aug.19 the company’s shares were trading for 52, and have moved between $1.24 and 41 over the last 52 weeks. The company has roughly 60 million shares outstanding.

With a resource report on two of its mines finished, the company says it is well on its way to securing the necessary mining licences in the Hubei province of China. The report has been submitted to officials.

The company has spent roughly US$1.14 million on it MAP project in the province with another US$6.18 million committed in contracts for long-lead capital equipment and construction.

The company says construction of MAP will be finished by the end of December with commissioning coming in the first quarter of 2009.

Spur plans to produce one million tonnes per year of compound phosphate fertilizer for domestic consumption in province of Hubei.

The completion of MAP is the first step in its overall plan.

Once it is finished, the company will focus on getting the two mining licenses it needs to develop the mine and finalizing engineering studies for two 600,000 million tonne per year fertilizer plants.

The company’s expansion plans are lofty, as it aims to develop one of the largest phosphate deposits in China, located near Yichang City.