Name and Location
Danakil potash project, Ethiopia.

Client
Allana Potash.

Project Description
Total muriate of potash (MoP) product from proven and probable sylvinite reserves at the Danahil project is estimated at 23.7-million tonnes.

A feasibility study completed on the Danakil project envisages commercial operations that produce one-million tonnes a year of a standard-grade MoP product over an initial estimated operating life of about 25 years from the sylvinite reserves.

Production will take place through solution mining, solar evaporation and flotation.

Solar evaporation of the saturated brine solution is possible at the project, owing to the year-round daily temperatures averaging 34°C, with very little rainfall.

Value
Capital expenditure is estimated at $642-million, including production, port and logistics and contingency.

Duration
First product is expected in 2015, with bulk shipments expected to ramp up from 2016 to a full one-million-tonnes-a-year production rate by the end of 2017.

Latest Developments
Allana Potash has engaged AMEC Americas to complete front-end engineering design (Feed) on its Danakil project. 

This work is expected to take about six months to complete. 

The AMEC team will provide Feed services in support of the project and will cover the following:
• process, maintenance and service buildings;
• conveyance to and from the ponds;
• product storage (wet and dry);
• truck loading;
• power generation and fuel storage;
• general roads and other project infrastructure;
• temporary and permanent works camps; and
• port facilities including: truck unloading, product storage and shiploader facilities integration.

During the Feed engineering phase AMEC will also undertake the following:
• the preparation of the project management plan, including a work breakdown schedule and definition of supply and construction scopes and packages.
• the development of a resource-loaded Level 3 project engineering, procurement/contracting and construction schedule, with detailed estimates of construction staffing requirements.
• the preparation of principal design documents, such as design criteria, flow sheets, P&IDs, single-line diagrams, site plans, and general arrangements, in preparation for final detailed engineering and construction documentation.
• the completion of civil, concrete and steel materials take-offs, based on three-dimensional modelling.
• the completion of trade-off and optimisation studies regarding certain process components, modularisation, power supply, materials movement and layout options.
• the development of the procurement and construction contracting plan, the completion of the list of qualified prospective suppliers and contractors.
• the initiation of procurement, with formal requests for quotation for long-lead items and items required to be rough-set as structural steel is erected and modules are configured.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
AMEC Americas (Feed).

On Budget and on Time?
Too early to state.

Contact Details for Project Information
Allana Potash senior VP: corporate development Richard Kelertas, tel +1 514 717 6256 or email rkelertas@allanapotash.com.
AMEC Americas, tel +1 905 829 5400.