Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A scoping study into the LD potash project, in Western Australia, has revealed that the project could produce 400 000 t/y.
Owner Reward Minerals on Thursday announced that the project would require a capital investment of about A$320-million, and would likely have an operating cost of A$204/t.
The project’s pre-tax net present value has been estimated at A$534-million, while the internal rate of return has been estimated at 37%.
Based on the existing 24.4-million tonne resource, the LD project was expected to have a mine life of 13 years, and would generate an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of A$154-million a year.
“We are very pleased with the results of the scoping study, which indicates very favourable economics for the LD project and supports our belief that the project is a truly world-class project,” said Reward MD Michael Ruane.
“The fundamentals underlying the potash market continue to be strong and we believe this will continue to be the case into the foreseeable future.”
Ruane noted that following the completion of the scoping study, Reward would move into feasibility studies for the project, as well as reactivating the environmental approvals process.
In addition, Reward would also be conducting drilling to expand the resource at the LD project.