Junior miner Kore Potash plc, which is developing the Kola and DX Potash Projects in the Sintoukola Basin in the Republic of Congo, announced on Feb. 9 that PowerChina International Group Ltd. delivered its Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) proposal and draft EPC contract for the Kola Project.
Kore said the initial EPC contract price aligns with expectations and reconfirms the capital cost detailed in an earlier optimization study (GM July 1, 2022). The EPC was delivered on Feb. 6.
Kore Potash and China’s SEPCO Electric Power Construction Corp./PowerChina will now further negotiate the EPC proposal and draft the EPC contract, targeting signing full EPC documentation by the end of April 2024.
Kore said the Summit Consortium has advised that the financing proposal for the total construction cost of Kola will be provided to the company within six weeks of EPC documentation terms finalization. Kore inked a Memorandum of Understanding with Summit in 2021 (GM April 9, 2021).
The Kola Project, which is to be designed and constructed as a conventional underground potash mine and processing plant, will have capacity to produce 2.2 million mt/y of granular potash over an initial 31-year life. The granular potash produced will be at a minimum quality of 95.3% KCl in line with international standards.
The capital cost to construct Kola has been put at $1.83 billion, with a construction period of 40 months, according to Kore Potash.