PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Potash developer Salt Lake Potash has awarded engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts and engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contracts for the process plant and non-process infrastructure at its Lake Way project, in Western Australia.
The EPC contract is worth an estimated A$85-million while the EPCM contract is valued at a further A$22-million, with Salt Lake on Monday saying the two contracts combined represented around 40% of the total project capital required for Lake Way.
Contractor GR Engineering Services was awarded both contracts.
“We are very pleased to have executed these contracts with GR Engineering Services who have been a critical contracting partner by our side throughout the design development of the Lake Way processing plant and off-lake infrastructure since early 2019,” said Salt Lake CEO Tony Swiericzuk.
“The finalization of these major project contracts and the substantial engineering and procurement activity to date has further de-risked the Lake Way project execution and confidence around the capital budget.”
Following progress in detailed engineering and vendor procurement, the budget for Lake Way has increased marginally from A$254-million to A$264-million, including an unallocated A$18-million contingency.
Meanwhile, bulk earthworks for the process plant are complete, while major vendor procurement is 77% complete, and offsite fabrication activities are substantially progressed.
The project is still on track for first sales in the first quarter of 2021.
The Lake Way project is expected to produce 245 000 t/y of sulphate of potash (SoP) over a mine life of 20 years, based on the high grade probable ore reserve of 5.4-million tonnes SoP.