JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – A recently completed scoping study at ASX-listed potassium miner Agrimin’s 100%-owned Mackay sulphate of potash (SoP) project has indicated that the project will be able to produce 370 000 t/y over a 20-year mine life.
The company on Tuesday said that the Western Australia-based project also had a positive financial structure, with average operating cash costs estimated to be $256/t free-on-board. On a mine gate basis, the study places the project in the bottom quartile of the industry cost curve.
Development capital costs were estimated to be $259-million, inclusive of all indirect costs and a $52-million contingency, providing an industry-low capital-intensity of $700/t.
Agrimin said it would now advance to the project’s prefeasibility study phase, with discussions with third-party infrastructure providers, environmental baseline studies and native title negotiations already under way.
The study confirms the use of a conventional SoP production process, including standard types of plant equipment. “The successful completion of a positive scoping study is a significant milestone towards development.
“There is a low level of geological confidence associated with inferred mineral resources and there is no certainty that further exploration work will result in the determination of indicated mineral resources or the eventual conversion to ore reserves or that the production target itself will be realised,” Agrimin said in a statement.
The study only considers brine extraction from trenches in the top 5.5 m of the deposit, while inferred mineral resources extend to a depth of 24.7 m and remain largely open at depth, thereby providing potential to increase the project’s planned life and/or capacity.