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- Kalium Lakes (KLL) flags the need for new “external funding” following a three-month review of its flagship Beyondie sulphate of potash (SOP) project near Newman in WA
- Kalium is targeting commercial sales from the project in July, though it now expects the project to operate at a run rate of 80,000 tonnes per year by the end of March 2023
- This is a major dip from Kalium’s updated feasibility study back in August 2021 when it said it was targeting a production rate of 120,000 tonnes per year by October 2022
- Given the revised ramp-up schedule for the project, Kalium said it may need some extra external funding before the September quarter of this year
- Shares in Kalium Lake were down 20 per cent this morning, trading at 8 cents each at 12:25 pm AEDT
Kalium Lakes (KLL) has flagged the need for new “external funding” following a three-month review of its flagship Beyondie sulphate of potash (SOP) project near Newman in WA.
The company this morning said while it was targeting commercial SOP sales from the project from July this year, it was now expecting the project to be operating at a run rate of 80,000 tonnes per year by the end of March 2023.
This is a major dip in planned production from Kalium’s updated feasibility study back in August last year. At the time, Kalium said it was targeting a production rate of 120,000 tonnes per year by October 2022.
However, the company has since told investors prior impacts to brine production rates ahead of the peak summer solar evaporation period meant it would harvest less potassium salt (KTMS) over 2022 than initially planned.
Today, Kalium confirmed it had pushed its 120,000-tonne-per-year production rate to the September quarter of 2024.
Nevertheless, new Kalium CEO Len Jubber said the review conducted over the past three months had confirmed the “inherent quality” of the Beyondie project.
“This quality spans across the in-situ brine JORC resource and ore reserve, the fully lined ponds and the world-leading purification plant technology,” Mr Jubber said.
“We are implementing plans to overcome the difficulties we have encountered to date and expect to re-start the processing plant in the next quarter as soon as sufficient ‘start-up grade’ of potassium salt (KTMS) has been accumulated.”
Given the revised ramp-up schedule for the project, however, Kalium said it may need some extra external funding before the September quarter of this year. While the company did not specify what this extra funding would look like, Kalium said it was in discussions with its financiers to address the required extra cash.
Kalium tapped investors for just under $58 million through a placement and share purchase plan in October last year.
In any case, Kalium said the macro-economic outlook for SOP remained “very positive”, with Beyondie likely to kick off production in a “very strong price environment”.
The company had $48 million in cash and $176 million of drawn senior debt facilities at the end of February.
Shares in Kalium Lake were down 20 per cent this morning, trading at 8 cents each at 12:25 pm AEDT. The company has a $95 million market cap.
