Kore Potash Receives Crucial Approval to Advance Project

Kore Potash (LSE:KP2) has received the much-needed Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) approval to advance its Dougou project in the Republic of Congo.

Obtaining the license was a key step in Kore being able to move forward with construction at the site. The ESIA allows the potash producer to develop the site and carnallite mining project, and includes a caveat allowing for an extension at the same site exploring the sylvinite deposit.

“Kore Potash’s mining licenses in the Republic of Congo have the potential to produce potash for the global market at very low cost for generations, and it is pleasing to have achieved another important milestone with ESIA approval for the Dougou mining license,” Brad Sampson, Kore’s CEO, said in the announcement.

The Dougou project is adjacent to the Kore’s flagship Kola mine and Sintoukola 2, where the company possesses an exploration license. The combined mining licenses and the exploration permit make up the Sintoukola potash project an area of roughly 955 km2, dubbed a “globally important potash basin.”

The Dougou project is comprised of two potash deposits, one carnallite and one sylvinite deposit. Carnallite is a potash mineral while sylvinite is a rock composed predominantly of the mineral sylvite (KCI) and halite.

“The company’s key strategic ambition is to bring the flagship Kola project into production, and it is important to keep the potential scale of the potash basin in mind,” Sampson added.

Currently, a definitive feasibility study is being conducted at Kola by a consortium of French engineering and construction companies. The Kola sylvinite deposit has already pegged to have a measured and indicated sylvinite mineral resource estimate of 508 million tonnes, with a grade of 35.4 percent KCI.

“Following completion of the definitive feasibility study for the Kola project, the company intends further assess the strategic options to unlock the value of the Dougou deposits,” Sampson said.

According to Kore, the Dougou carnallite deposit has a measured and indicated potash mineral resource of 1.1 billion tonnes. A 2015 scoping study pegged a life of mine-operating cost of US$68 per tonne MoP was possible with resource estimations.

Kore Potash shares were down 6.17 percent on Wednesday (August 29), to GBX 4.60.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.