POTASH/ PHOSPAHTE
Full plate for Potash West
W
ith a financial evaluation
ject’s potential to host multi-billion
completed at its Dandaratonnes of potash.
gan Trough project in Western
“We hope to have the drilling
Australia, Potash West NL is
plan finalised at Kuellstedt within
back drilling in the field.
six months and then go for apThe purpose of its current
provals on that. The drilling proprogramme is a resource drill
gramme is probably about 12-18
out on the Dinner Hill project,
months away because it is a long
managing director Patrick Mcplanning process. We have idenManus said.
tified 4-5bt [at 7-25% potash] as
“In the three to six month perian exploration target,” McManus
od we expect to be finishing the
said.
resource drill out on the Dinner
As it ticks off the necessary apHill project [results of] which will
provals in Germany, where it holds
probably be announced in about
450sq km of ground including the
May/June. The material is very
Grafentonna licence, near Kuellsteasy drilling and less than 100m
edt, Potash West will also be makfrom the surface, so we can do
ing sense of the opportunity it has
about 300-350m a day,” he said.
in the tech sector.
“That will allow us to delineIn February, the company anate the mining area for Dinner
nounced it had been granted a
Hill and there will be another
25% interest in Strategic Metalprogramme in the feasibility
lurgy (SM); Potash West’s techstudy later [in the year] to take
nology partners in developing
the resource to measured and
the K-Max technology which will
indicated status.”
produce potash and other comEarlier this year the company
modities from glauconite at Danannounced improved economdaragan.
ics to produce phosphate and
While Potash West is the owner
potash fertilisers from Dandaraof K-Max, SM has advanced the
gan in a two-stage process.
technology further to treat lithiumThe scoping study indicated
rich micas and developed a recovthe potential viability of a stanery process to produce battery
dalone 4.2 mtpa for 390,000 tpa
grade lithium.
superphosphate (SPP) project
It is estimated that lithium defor the first five years of operamand in the next 10-15 years will
tion.
grow at a rate of 12-18% per anA standalone plant to produce
A sample of a sylvinite seam in an existing potash mine, 15km from num however there are limited
SPP in stage one of the project
the Kuellstedt exploration licence mines existing to keep up with
has been estimated to cost
demand.
about $135.7 million. The project will be better
“There won’t be a large number of projects
Within the larger 60sq km holding Dinner
defined in a feasibility study expected to be
to come on and there will be an opportunity
Hill is based, an exploration target of 1-1.5bt
completed late 2015/early 2016.
for technology to be used on what are curhas been reported.
Assuming the success of stage one, Potrently not seen as lithium ores.
There is even better exploration upside for
ash West may be in a position to fund some
It will open up a whole new area where [trathe company at its prospects in Germany,
stage two capital requirements – $590 million
ditionally] lithium might not come from which
particularly at Kuellstedt, where potash ex– for the integrated K-Max plant.
is very important in a market like this,” Mcperts ERCOSPLAN have indicated the proFinding a strategic partner is
Manus said.
also a likely scenario for Potash
“We’re not sure how it will unfold
West to bring the K-Max operation
but Cobre Montana [NL] is busy
into play by about 2023.
looking at opportunities to use this
The plan is to have the K-Max
technology as is Lepidico [Australplant constructed and commisian mineral processing technology
sioned in years four and five of
company] and we are doing the
stage one, ready to process phossame thing.”
phate- and potassium-containing
Cobre Montana has been liminerals which are in the layers
censed by SM to look at opportunibelow the SPP material in the Danties to apply the technology and its
daragan Trough.
success should be a fillip for PotInitially, the project is slated for
ash West, with Adrian Griffin – the
20 years averaging revenue of
managing director at Cobre Mon$380 million a year (life-of-mine),
tana – also non-executive chairhowever, the current resource –
man at Potash West.
120mt @ 2.8% phosphate, 3.1%
– Mark Andrews
potash and 8.2% calcium oxide – is
limited to just 10sq km of the Dinner
Patrick McManus
Hill project.
PAGE 64 APRIL 2015 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT