Photo by: Bloombeg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Potash hopeful Elemental Minerals is contemplating the accelerated construction of its Kola sylvenite project, in the Republic of Congo, after receiving an investment proposal from Summit Private Equity.
Summit is looking to invest at least $40-million into ASX-listed Elemental, taking up shares in the company at a price of A$0.20 each. The investment will be subject to a number of conditions, including a due diligence and internal approvals.
Elemental told shareholders on Thursday that the investment was intended to ensure that the company was sufficiently funded through to the start of construction at the Kola project.
Elemental and Summit were discussing a proposed new strategy, which could involve the creation of a master plan for not only the Kola project, but also the Dougou and Yangala projects in order to evaluate how best to incorporate these projects within the overall development of the larger Sintoukola project.
The discussions were also centred around completing a definitive feasibility study for the Kola mine, concluding binding engineering, procurement and construction contracts, and enhancing Elemental’s financing capabilities.
It was hoped that the investment would allow Elemental to accelerate construction of the Kola project to allow for construction to start within the next 24 months, moving the project directly to a full scale two-million-tonne-a-year operation, rather than a phased approach as considered by a previous feasibility study.
Previous studies for the Kola project envisaged a phased development, with Phase 1 entailing the mining of one-million tonnes of ore a year, for a period of four years, and the Phase 2 operations increasing output to two-million tonnes a year.
The Summit proposal remained nonbinding, and remained subject to negotiations.