Name of the Project
Lake Wells potash project.

Location
The project is located 500 km north-east of Kalgoorlie, in Western Australia.

Client
Australian Potash Limited (APC).

Project Description
A scoping study has confirmed that the project’s economic, financial and technical aspects are all exceptionally strong, and highlights APC’s potential to become a significant long-life, low-capital and high-margin sulphate of potash (SoP) producer.

The proposed project will be developed in two stages, enabling it to mitigate operational and commodity price risks before committing to Stage 2 capital expenditure.

The staged development approach enables APC to optimise
economic outcomes based on the future market dynamics at the time while providing the company with the flexibility to capture domestic Australian SoP demand early.

The Stage 1 development comprises a 150 000 t/y SoP processing plant, 35 bore brine abstraction networks, evaporation ponds, an accommodation village and associated site infrastructure.

The Stage 2 development duplicates the processing plant, expanding its capacity to 300 000 t/y of SoP, and increases the span of the bore field and the area of the evaporation ponds.

The project brine is naturally high in sulphates, which enables APC to increase SoP production using the same pumped brine volume.

The processing plant has been scoped to include the muriate of potash (MoP) to SoP conversion circuit, with Stage 2 duplicating Stage 1.

At 150 000 t/y of SoP output, 50 000 t/y will be SoP that has been converted from MoP.

At 300 000 t/y SoP output, 100 000 t/y will be SoP that has been converted from MoP.

The project has a mineral resource of 14.7-million tonnes of SoP, including 12.7-million tonnes in the indicated category.

Jobs to Be Created
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a net present value, at a 10% discount rate, of A$500-million and an internal rate of return of 33%, with a payback of 2.9 years for Stage 1 and 1.7 years for Stage 2.

Value
Preproduction capital based on an initial 150 000 t/y SoP plant has been estimated at A$175-million, including contingency of A$24.4-million.

Stage 2 expansion capital, which is planned for Year 5 of operations, has been estimated at A$162.9-million.

Duration
Not stated.

Latest Developments
APC has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China’s Hubei Agricultural Means of Production Group for the sale of up to 100 000 t/y of SoP from the Lake Wells project.

Under the terms of the MoU, Australian Potash will proportionally weigh sales between Stage 1 and the full-scale production rate, allowing for the potential to capture a significant share of prevailing domestic Australian demand.

APC is expected to soon start feasibility work at Lake Wells and is aiming to optimise capital expenditure estimates through engagement with suppliers.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
APC executive chairperson Matt Shackleton, tel +61 438 319 841 or email m.shackleton@australianpotash.com.au.