Potash developer Kore Potash has updated the Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant mineral resource, ore reserve, prefeasibility study (PFS) information and production target for its 97%-owned DX project, in Congo-Brazzaville.
The updated mineral resource – 129-million tonnes at an average grade of 24.9% potassium chloride – incorporates the most recent drilling results and interpretation of the geophysical data.
As such, the production target for the project now stands at 15.5-million tonnes of sylvinite at a grade of 30.63% potassium chloride, demonstrating an initial project life of 12 years at a production rate of 400 000 t/y of muriate of potash (MoP).
The new production target is based on proven and probable ore reserves – of 9.31-million tonnes of sylvinite at an average grade of 35.7% potassium chloride – and 13% of the inferred mineral resources that represents 30% of the life-of-project’s MoP production.
This means the net present value of the DX project is $275-million, with an internal rate of return of 27% on a real post-tax basis at life-of-project average granular MoP price of $450/t.
From first production, the new project metrics translate into a payback period, post-tax, of 2.9 years.
CEO Brad Sampson says the most recent drilling and geophysical data on the DX project have further improved confidence in the DX deposit and the economic attractiveness of the project.
“The updated resource further confirms this project to be a low operating cost potash operation that can produce about 400 000 t/y of MoP.
“What makes DX unique is its low capital expenditure and shallow deposit containing high-grade potassium chloride, qualities which are very rare in the potash industry,” he says.