Kalium Lakes is a step closer to starting construction on its Beyondie potash project near Newman after receiving $74 million in funding, making it the latest in a string of mining companies to win financial backing from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.
Kalium Lakes is a step closer to starting construction on its Beyondie potash project near Newman after receiving $74 million in funding, making it the latest in a string of mining companies to win financial backing from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.
The funding will allow Kalium Lakes to: bring forward the construction of a 78-kilometre gas pipeline and a gas-fired power station; reduce operating costs by between $62 and $65 per tonne; and facilitate the construction of supporting infrastructure including road and communication infrastructure, an airstrip and an accommodation village.
The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility and Kalium Lakes have agreed to non-binding term sheets for the provision of a $48 million infrastructure development facility and up to $26 million for a project development facility.
Kalium Lakes managing director Brett Hazelden said his team was very proud of the fact that the facility recognised the public benefits of the Beyondie SOP roject, which would produce a high-yield premium fertiliser used to cultivate fruits, vegetables, berries, potatoes, beans, cocoa, tobacco and tree nuts for sale to international and domestic markets.
“Including providing a domestic source of fertiliser which plays a significant role in improving agricultural yield and productivity, an Indigenous engagement strategy and the creation of jobs in local communities,” he said.
“This positive investment decision by NAIF, which has been incorporated into the front end engineering and design report, is further confirmation that all the fundamentals of the Beyondie SOP project stack up and takes us one step closer to a final investment decision by Kalium.”
The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility was established on July 1 2016 with a budget of $5 billion to fund infrastructure projects in the northern areas of Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
After not receiving sufficient requests for funding, the facility broadened the scope of its eligibility criteria in April 2018. It eliminated a $50 million project threshold and removed a 50 per cent cap on the debt taken on by the facility.
Since the facility changed its criteria, several WA miners have been granted funding. Among them is Sheffield Resources, which secured $95 million to develop power, road and port infrastructure for its Thunderbird mineral sands project last September.
Pilbara Minerals also benefited from the changes in August 2018 when Naif agreed to a $15 million upgrade of Pippingarra Road.
In November, EcoMag progressed to the due diligence phase of funding for a commercial-scale plant near Karratha, which would turn waste saltwater into high-purity magnesium.
The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility loan to Kalium Lakes is subject to final approval from the WA government.