Kore Potash PLC (LON:KP2) has received approval to build a transhipment facility eleven miles offshore from the port at Tchiboula in the Republic of Congo.
The permit is for a jetty to transfer potash shipped to the port from its Kola project onto large ships and also covers the Dougou and Dougou extension deposits.
READ: Kore Potash adds 20% to indicated resource in Republic of Congo
The maritime authorisation approves construction of the transhipment facility in the ‘optimum location’.
Permission runs for an initial term of 25 years with an option to renew.
Brad Sampson, Kore Potash’s chief executive, said: "The license to operate the transhipment activities is one of the key approvals required for the development of the Kola Project.
“Permission to build and operate a dedicated jetty is vital to optimising the operating costs of the project."
A project agreement covering the detailed design and construction of the offshore infrastructure will follow after the completion of Kola's Definitive Feasibility Study.
Kore has also been granted permission to discharge waste brine from Kola into the sea.
So far, Kore has delineated a potash resource of more than 1 billion tonnes across its deposits that include both sylvinite and carnalite.
In a separate statement, Kore's results for the half-year to June showed a loss of US$4.6mln (US$691,000).
Kore also confirmed that it expects to receive the DFS for Kola by the end of September, after which it will review the study.
A consortium of multinational French engineers - Technip, Vinci, Egis and Louis Dreyfus - are compiling the DFS.
Work is now focused on the overall estimate of the construction schedule, capital and operating costs.