PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Centrex Metals on Wednesday told shareholders that the start-up operation at its Ardmore phosphate rock project, in Queensland, was on track to start production in 2019, with commissioning targeted for mid-2019.
The start-up operation is targeted at producing some 30 000 t of concentrate to provide priority customers with trial shipments in order to secure long-term offtake contracts to underpin project financing for the full-scale project.
The start-up plant will have a 70 t/h capacity and has been designed with the option to expand to the 140 t/h full-scale operation.
A previously completed definitive feasibility study (DFS) estimated that the full-scale project would require a capital investment of around A$77-million to produce 800 000 t/y of premium-grade phosphate rock concentrate over a mine life of ten years.
However, since the completion of the DFS, Centrex has identified some A$5.7-million in capital savings and A$3/t in operating cost savings at the project, with a number of other cost saving initiatives currently being assessed.
Full scale production has been targeted for the start of 2021.