Kore Potash Ltd (LON:KP2) has received a boost to its development plans for the Sintoukola (Kola) Potash project in the Republic of Congo.
A first mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Dongou Extension Deposit had identified 232mln tonnes grading at 38.1% sylvinite (KCl), taking the total mineral resource of the entire Kola project to more than 1bn tonnes.
Sylvinite is an important source of potash.
Kore added that the resource might provide additional feed to increase the processing life of the Kola project, an option that would be reviewed following the completion of a definitive feasibility study.
Brad Sampson, chief executive, said the Dougou Extension “brings a third deposit within our permits in the Republic of Congo, and reinforces our view that this new basin hosts large globally important, shallow, and high-grade potash deposits”.
“[It is] more evidence that the start of production from this world-class basin will be a disruptive force in the fertiliser sector for decades to come”.
DFS refinement
Sampson recently appointed a third-party to refine the definitive feasibility study (DFS) for Kola.
Delivery of the DFS for the company to review is scheduled for September, but Kore has commissioned an independent assessment of some aspects of the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) pricing.
A consortium of French engineering companies - Technip, Vinci, Egis International and Louis Dreyfus - has worked on the DFS to this point.
Kore said it is also working on its own with the consortium to optimise the capital costs of the project prior to finalisation of capital and operating cost estimates.
Sampson said it was important to achieve the optimal project design and engineering and position Kola to realise its potential."
Amendments to the Kola environmental and social impact assessment have been submitted to Republic of Congo authorities, while the Mining Convention for the Kola project is now being reviewed by the country’s parliament for approval.
Dougou Extension has some high grades
Kola has a measured has a Measured and Indicated sylvinite mineral resource of 508 Mt grading 35.4 % KCl.
Indicated resources at the Dougou Extension, which lies south-west of Kola, were 111Mt, with an additional inferred resource of 121Mt.
Kore added that Dougou is contained within two horizontal or gently dipping sylvinite seams, with one, the Hangingwall Seam, containing very high grades.
The shallow seams are 310 metres and 490m below surface at the southern end of an area approximately 30km long and up to 12km wide.
The deposit is 15km from the company's planned processing and export facility for Kola on the Atlantic coast.
Added to Kola and the Dougou carnallite deposit, it takes the sylvinite resource delineated on the licence so far to over 1 billion tonnes.
At 4.38p, Kore is valued at £38.5mln.