Salt Lake Potash Ltd (ASX:SO4) (LON:SO4) (FRA:W1D) (OTCMKTS:WHELF) has completed the second stage of on-lake construction at its sulphate of potash (SOP) from its Lake Way Project in Western Australia.
Stage 2 includes 275 hectares of brine evaporation ponds which will provide feed salts to the process plant in 2021.
In total, Salt Lake has now completed construction of 400 hectares of evaporation ponds and 35 kilometres of brine abstraction trenches.
Focus now on building processing plant
The focus has now shifted to the construction of the processing plant as well as other non-process infrastructure.
Ground clearing and early-stage civil activity has commenced.
Salt Lake’s CEO Tony Swiericzuk said: “The rapid delivery of the Lake Way SOP Project continues.
“Completion of the Stage 2 ponds, ahead of schedule and on budget, means the company now has the infrastructure in place to supply harvest salts to the process plant in 2021.
“As these key milestones are completed the project continues to be significantly de-risked with expected first SOP production now just 10 months away.”
Recent offtake secured
Last week, Salt Lake signed a binding term-sheet for the sale of premium water-soluble SOP from Lake Way.
Under the 5-year agreement, Salt Lake will initially provide 4,000 tonnes per annum of SOP.
Importantly, the company has now secured offtake for 224,000 tonnes per annum of the 245,000 tonnes per annum forecast to be produced from Lake Way.
The remaining tonnes are expected to be sold into local and spot markets.