PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed American Pacific Borate and Lithium (ABR) was hoping to start construction of its Fort Cady borate project, in Southern California, by the fourth quarter of this year.
The start of construction would be subject to financing and permitting.
ABR has started an informal financing process to test the market appetite to debt-finance the capital required to build Phase 1 A of the Fort Cady project.
The Phase 1 A project is estimated to require a capital investment of $36.8-million to develop a production base of 6 000 t/y of boric acid and 40 000 t/y of sulphate of potash.
Phase 1 B would increase boric acid production to 90 000 t/y, using learnings from the initial 6 000 t/y operation.
ABR on Thursday said that funds from the May capital raising have been used to progress the construction-related engineering activities, with basic engineering set for completion in August.
Detailed engineering is expected to follow soon after, allowing for construction timelines to be met.