Key points
- The NI 43-101 report found 600,000 tonnes of indicated and 2.1 million tonnes of inferred phosphate resources within EPM 28589.
- The initial mining lease application targets a block containing 395,625 tonnes of phosphate.
- Producing 197,813 bank cubic metres of phosphate will require removing only 96,448 bank cubic metres of overburden.
- The company has applied for two additional subblocks, EPM 28882, designated Korella North 2.
Chatham Rock Phosphate Ltd.’s Queensland-based lead project, Korella North, is advancing steadily toward becoming an operating phosphate mine.
The company is currently preparing the mining lease application for Korella North, a step that can be undertaken now that the National Instrument 43-101 independent report, announced last week, reported 600,000 tonnes of indicated resources and 2.1 million tonnes of inferred rock phosphate resources within EPM 28589.
The confirmation of this resource base has now enabled the definition of the proposed location of the initial mining lease application. The area the company has selected is a block containing 395,625 tonnes of phosphate. The area selected is where the 22-metre-thick Monastery Creek phosphorite member outcrops and has minimal overburden to be removed to enable phosphate production.
Only 96,448 bank cubic metres of overburden is required to be removed to enable production of 197,813 bank cubic metres of phosphate. This low overburden ratio should result in reduced mining costs.
The phosphate mining method will involve the selective recovery of individual plies and groups of plies in order to produce a 20-per-cent P2O5 (phosphorus pentoxide) direct shipping phosphate product.
While phosphate sales will be directed initially into the domestic market, several enquiries for export of this soft-rock low-cadmium direct application 20 per cent P2O5 have already been received.
Lodgment of the draft mining lease application is planned for late September. While there is no fixed time table for granting mining leases in Queensland, the company is working to achieve first production from Korella North by the start of the second half of 2024.
In addition, to extend the Korella North exploration area EPM 28589, an application has been made for two additional two subblocks to the west of the existing tenement. These two subblocks registered as EPM 28882 are designated Korella North 2.
The company anticipates that in due course additional rock phosphate resources will be identified within both EPM 28589 and EPM 28882.
