Australian sulfate of potash (SOP) junior Kalium Lakes Ltd., Balcatta, Western Australia, reported that it had achieved cumulative production of 1,000 mt of commercially saleable SOP as of June 29 at its Beyondie SOP project located 160 km southeast of Newman, in Western Australia.
In an operating and corporate activities statement on July 1, the company said the first commercial sales were scheduled for mid-July through offtake partner Germany’s K+S, with whom Kalium has a binding 10-year offtake agreement for the purchase of up to 90,000 mt/y (GM March 29, 2019).
Kalium Lakes is expecting Beyondie to be operating at an approximate 80,000 mt/y SOP production run rate by the first quarter of calendar year 2023, with a targeted 120,000 mt/y run rate to be established by the third quarter of calendar year 2024.
Beyondie produced its first batch of SOP on Oct. 4, 2021, during the product commissioning process, making Kalium Australia’s first SOP producer (GM Oct. 8, 2021).
All of the SOP fertilizer currently used in Australia is imported, and Germany’s K+S supplies around 60 percent of the import volume.