Dedicated offshore transshipment area licensed at Sintoukola

12th September 2018 By: Tasneem Bulbulia - Senior Contributing Editor Online

Potash project development company Kore Potash has received approval for a licence for the transshipment of potash and the discharge of waste brine in a dedicated offshore area at its flagship 97%-owned Sintoukola potash project in the Republic of Congo.

The Maritime Authorisation licence – one of the prerequisites to begin construction of offshore infrastructure in the Republic of Congo – was authorised by the Minister of Transport, Civil Aviation and Merchant Marine, and issued to the company on September 6.

The licence covers the Kola, Dougou and Dougou Extension projects and is valid for 25 years and renewable for the life of the projects.

The footprint of the allocated maritime public domain for transshipment is situated at the Tchiboula coastal area and 11 nautical miles offshore, immediately South of the Dougou mining licence.

This authorisation represents another important step forward towards the development of the Kola project, approving the optimum location for the transshipment of potash onto ocean-going vessels, and permitting the use of ocean water for waste brine dilution and, combined with other licences, ocean disposal of the waste brine.

In addition to the benefits of transshipment permissions, permission to build and operate a dedicated jetty is vital to optimising the operating costs of the project, says Kore Potash CEO Brad Sampson.