LONDON (Alliance News) - Salt Lake Potash Ltd on Tuesday said a scoping study indicates a low-cost, high-margin demonstration plant at its Lake Way project in Australia.
Total capital costs for the project are estimated at AUD49 million, with an average total cash cost of AUD387 per tonne of sulphate of potash.
Salt Lake hopes to average annual production of 50,000 tonnes of sulphate of potash from Lake Way, and the demonstration plant is backed up by an indicated and measured mineral resource of 500,000 tonnes, more than enough to support a plant for two to three years.
Salt Lake's plan is to produce initial harvest salts in the middle of 2019 for sulphate of potash production to begin in early 2020, and it hopes to have a feasibility study completed by the end of 2018.
Chief Executive Matt Syme said: "This scoping study confirms our expectations a demonstration plant at Lake Way is the ideal model for starting development of the broader SOP project across our extensive salt lake portfolio.
"The advantages inherent in our location and the cost benefits associated with low cost trench extraction and on-lake ponds are apparent, and these advantages will increase significantly with scale."
He added: "The low capital expenditure, excellent operating margins, and ability to de-risk the project through staged development also give us the opportunity to optimise the numerous financing alternatives before us."
Shares were 0.8% lower on Tuesday at a price of 27.77 pence each.