Junior company SOPerior Fertilizer Corp., (formerly Potash Ridge Corp.), Toronto, reported on Dec. 6 that it has entered into an exclusivity agreement with a counter-party with respect to a joint venture agreement for its development of its Blawn Mountain alunite asset in Beaver County, Utah. A similar jv announced in 2020 with another counter-party (GM Aug. 28, 2020) fell through.
The company said the counter-party has agreed to provide a US$200,000 exclusivity payment to secure the jv transaction until the closing date, which is anticipated to occur by mid-January 2022 or earlier.
SOPerior said the proposed jv’s first phase commercial production facility and future expansion phases are to be constructed on the site of an existing copper processing operation. It said this location provides numerous mutual economic and operational benefits and synergies with the existing copper operations, such as a reduction in labor costs and general and administrative costs from a shared workforce and reduced government and community engagement costs.
Utilization of the existing infrastructure tie-ins and on-site process equipment with incorporation of process modifications is expected to result in significant capital and operating cost reductions.
Process engineering will commence immediately upon jv execution, and it is anticipated that the facility can be built and online within 18 months of completing its front-end engineering design (FEED).
Initial project capacity estimates are for over 70,000 mt/y of sulfate of potash (SOP), 140,000 mt/y alumina, and 150,000 mt/y of sulfuric acid. The company said with three valuable commodities being produced from processing a single ore – alunite – the project should yield lowest-in-class production costs. It noted that the forward market outlook for all three is strong.
The ore is to be mined using simple surface mining operations. The company said for every mt of SOP produced, approximately 2 mt of alumina and 2.15 mt of sulfuric acid are co-produced. The project is permitted to produce up to 645,000 mt/y SOP, 1.29 million mt/y alumina, and 1.4 million t/y of sulfuric acid.
SOPerior said the deposit represents the largest known potential nonbauxite source of alumina in the U.S. The company’s lease comprises over 15,400 acres.
It said a 2017 pre-feasibility study reports National Instrument 43-101 proven and probable mineral resources of 426 million mt and 153.3 million mt of proven and probable mineral reserves from two explored areas of the lease, with this excluding potential resource additions from two unexplored areas within the lease that show surface indications of alunite. It said this represents over 100 years of potential project reserve life at large commercial scale.
According to SOPerior, the counter-party will act as the operator of the jv and will obtain an increasing ownership interest over the project as it achieves the milestones. Initially, the two jv parties will have an equal 50-50 interest. SOPerior will not be required to contribute financially to the achievement of the milestones.
The jv relates to commercially developing the alunite interests at Blawn Mountain, completing financing and construction of an alunite processing plant, and ultimately processing ore into its primary offtakes.