Junior miner Kore Potash Plc, London, has signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA) with China’s SEPCO Electric Power Construction Corp. for the construction of its Kola potash project in the Sintoukola Basin of the Republic of Congo.
Kore Potash said in its June 28 statement announcing the HOA that it expects the finalization of all Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) terms and the presentation of the completed EPC construction proposal by SEPCO this coming August.
The HOA follows SEPCO’s recent completion of the optimization phase for the project
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 is put at $1.83 billion, with a construction period of 40 months, according to Kore Potash.
The company noted the capital cost of the underground works component of the Kola project may be reviewed following completion of additional investigations by SEPCO during the pre-construction engineering design phase.
Kore Potash also reported the Summit Consortium has “reaffirmed” its commitment to provide Kore with a financing proposal for the full construction cost of Kola, and that the financing proposal will be provided after Kore has received the EPC proposal and has agreed with SEPCO on the key EPC terms.
Kore and the Summit Consortium, which comprises SEPCO, China’s ENFI Engineering, and BRP Global, signed a nonbinding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on financing in April 2021 (GM April 9, 2021).
Kore currently owns 97% of the Kola potash project.