interview

Part of the interview.
As the review has shown, the original development path was not right for the Colluli resource. The most commonly used potash globally is potassium chloride, which is produced predominantly from a potassium-bearing salt called sylvinite. The original scoping work that underpinned the definitive study focused solely on the sylvinite in the resource and did not give the appropriate consideration to balancing the economics of mining and processing costs.
The +1 billion-tonne Colluli resource contains three potassium bearing salts which sit in layers within the ore body. Sylvinite accounts for only 16 per cent of these salts. The other two salts in the resource are Carnallitite and Kainitite. Like Sylvinite, both of these salts are used to make potassium fertilisers, otherwise known as potash.

The salts sit on top of each other in the resource and therefore the more salt types that are used in
the production process, the lower the mining stripping ratios – ie, the ratio of waste to ore. Given
the mining costs represented the largest portion of the operating costs in the original development
concept, utilising all salts represented a significant opportunity to improve the project’s economics.
The review indicates the waste to ore ratio can be reduced from 13.4:1 in the sylvinite-only
scenario to approximately 2.5:1 by using all salts. This represents an overall cost reduction of
approximately $115 per tonne of product from the original study (ESS1) and $50 per tonne of
product from our published staged development plan (see ASX announcement dated 21st March
2013).
In addition, using all the salts opens up a lot more of the resource, extending the mine life
significantly and increases the ultimate scale of the project. The paradigm shift here has been to
stop thinking of the resource as a traditional deposit and question whether traditional processing is
the most effective option.
More than 60 per cent of the resource is Kainitite, a potassium-bearing salt which is less common
throughout the world and processed mainly from brines. We have an abundance of Kainitite in salt
form and we have shifted a lot of our attention to ensuring we derive value from it.
As well as using all of the resource this means significant savings I would think. Opinions?
Good luck all