Name of the Project
Khemisset potash project.

Location
(The project is located in) Northern Morocco.

Project Owner/s
Emmerson PLC.

Project Description
A feasibility study has confirmed the project as a world-class, low capital cost, high-margin potash mine.

The feasibility study is based on 43% of the Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant mineral resource estimate of 537-million tonnes at an average grade of 9.24% potassium oxide, delivering an initial mine life of 19 years.

The feasibility study is estimated to produce about six-million tonnes a year of run-of-mine ore to produce muriate of potash (MoP) at steady-state production of about 735 000 t/y and de-icing salt at one-million tonnes a year. Peak production is estimated at 810 000 t/y of K60 MoP and one-million tonnes a year of de-icing salt.

The mine is proposed to be accessed through twin declines from the surface, which will allow for ore to be extracted using a conventional room-and-pillar mining methodology using continuous miners. Ore will be processed using hot leaching and cold crystallisation to produce the generic K60 MoP product, which is standard in the industry. The feasibility study assumes all MoP and salt product is exported through the Port of Casablanca using trucks from the mine site, to be sold in Emmerson’s target markets in the Atlantic corridor. Significant potential remains to increase the mine life by including additional resources, notably in the south-west of the pro­ject area, and through further exploration work.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an after-tax net present value, at an 8% nominal discount rate, of $1.4-billion and an internal rate of return of 38.5%, with a 2.6-year payback.

Capital Expenditure
The capital cost of the project, including a $45.5-million contingency, is estimated at $387-million. About $24-million, including contingency, has been allocated to a salt plant designed to produce de-icing specification salt.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Emmerson has completed all the workstreams required for its environmental- and social-impact assessment (Esia) for the Khemisset potash project and will soon submit it to the relevant governmental bodies for approval.

The assessment package comes as a capstone to two concurrent phases, which involved an extensive baseline programme that started in the early stages of the project development in 2018 and the Esia study that started early this year.

Findings of the baseline investigations have been integrated into the Esia and the proposed monitoring programmes.

These will be reflected in the final project design in the forthcoming front-end engineering design so that positive impacts are maximised and negative impacts minimised, from construction to closure.

The company has said that its project team, together with the Morocco-headquartered firm Phénixa, have consulted the various project stakeholders at every stage and inventoried the applicable Moroccan legislation.

The related workstreams have been completed in compliance with the International Finance Corporation Performance Standards and Equator Principles.

These standards are the global benchmark for the development of mining projects and complying with them is vital for mining projects, particularly those seeking finance from international investors and lenders.

“We are confident that the results of our work will demonstrate that Khemisset is going to be accepted as an important new potash mine to the benefit of Morocco and the shareholders of Emmerson,” CEO Graham Clarke has commented. 

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Golder Associates (feasibility study); including Moroccan Salts (consultant and resource geologists) Global Potash Solutions and Barr Associates (processing design); DeltaBEC (project infrastructure).

Contact Details for Project Information
Emmerson PLC, tel +44 207 236 1177.