Australian potash junior Salt Lake Potash (SO4) has begun commissioning of the process plant at its Lake Way SOP project near Wiluna, in Western Australia. It is a major milestone for the company, as it is the first time that potassium-rich harvest salts, precipitated from lake aquifer brine, have been fed into an SOP plant in Australia, SO4 said on March 22.
The first harvest salts have been fed into the feed hopper, conveyed to the surge bin, and run through the lump breaker and then into the attritioning feed tank at the front-end of the process plant.
The company said in the coming weeks the utilities, conversion circuit, flotation circuits, crystallisers, and dryer will all be commissioned ahead of full load commissioning and SOP production – and sales – in the June quarter.
At full production, SO4 plans an output of 245,000 mt/y of SOP. It has in place around 224,000 mt/y of binding offtake agreements in place for five- and ten-year terms (GM Dec. 20, 2019).
These deals include: Helm AG, Germany, 50,000 mt/y for 10 years from start of production for sale within Southeast Asia and the Middle East (GM Dec. 20, 2019); Unifert for 60,000 mt/y in the Middle East and Africa; Indagro for 50,000 mt/y for North America and Europe; and Fertisur for 60,000 mt/y in South America (GM Nov. 22, 2019).