JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed junior Centrex Metals is advancing its Oxley project, in Western Australia, to the prefeasibility study (PFS) stage, after receiving positive results from a scoping study on a start-up potassium nitrate fertiliser (NOP) operation.
The scoping study, prepared by Amec Foster Wheeler, shows that the start-up operation has the economic potential to be globally competitive, with upside for large-scale expansion, the company reported in a statement on Monday.
The start-up NOP operation is based on an inferred mineral resource of 38-million tonnes at 10% potassium oxide (K2O), from a total of 155-million tonnes at 8.3% (K2O). The resources to date cover only 3 km of the overall 32 km striking area that forms the basis of the project.
Centrex will now proceed to a PFS, which will not only consider a start-up NOP operation, but also second stage expansion in to the bulk potassium fertiliser market.
The PFS is expected to be complete by the end of 2017. The company will also start with preliminary engineering studies.