Australian junior salt and sulfate of potash (SOP) producer BCI Minerals Ltd., West Perth, expects the first shipment of salt from its 100% owned Mardie salt and potash project on the Pilbara coast of Western Australia to be delayed after the company revealed the project is experiencing “significant” cost increases.
BCI said in a July 7 statement the first salt shipment “indicatively” will sail in the second half of 2025. The company as recently as this past February had been targeting first salt sales in late 2024 (GM Feb. 25, p. 32).
The cost increases also may result in asset sales to fund the Mardie project, BCI said in its statement.
The company said the cost increases due to current market conditions are being compounded by a potential design restructure to the project to comply with third-party approvals and delays to secondary approvals, as well as recent weather effects and ongoing COVID-related labor pressures.
BCI continues to assess further value engineering opportunities, conduct reviews of design assumptions, and advance design maturity of all packages to reduce risk and partially offset the cost increases, the company said in its statement.
It said it will confirm the projected net impact of market conditions, design changes, remaining approvals, and cost saving initiatives when the reviews have been sufficiently advanced to produce a reliable cost estimate.
Once a reliable cost estimate has been established, the company said it will discuss funding solutions with shareholders and lenders. It said these funding solutions “may include asset sales.”
The salt and SOP junior is developing what will ultimately include a 100 km2 evaporation pond and crystallization system, two processing plants, and a new export facility, and will be designed to produce about 5.35 million mt/y of high-purity salt and about 140,000 mt/y of SOP.