Name of the Project
Ardmore phosphate rock project.

Location
Queensland, Australia.

Client
Centrex Metals.

Project Description
Ardmore has a maiden ore reserve of 10.1-million tonnes at 30.2% phosphorous pentoxide supporting a ten-year life-of-mine (LoM).

A definitive feasibility study (DFS) has confirmed the project as a high-quality asset with a relatively low capital investment, low technical risk and the potential to provide strong returns.

The DFS is based on an 800 000-wet-tonnes-a-month phosphate concentrate processing facility with a ten-year LoM based on the maiden reserves.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an unleveraged nominal pretax net present value, at a 10% discount rate, of A$172-million and an internal rate of return of 40%, with a payback of four years.

Value
The project has preproduction capital costs of A$77-million.

Duration
First operations are scheduled to start in mid-2019, with full-scale production scheduled for 2021.

Latest Developments
The start-up operation at Ardmore is on track to start production in 2019, with commissioning targeted for mid-2019.

The start-up operation is targeted at producing about 30 000 t of concentrate to provide priority customers with trial shipments, to secure long-term offtake contracts to bolster project financing for the full-scale project.

The start-up plant will have a 70 t/h capacity and has been designed with the option to expand to the 140 t/h full-scale operation.

Meanwhile, Centrex has since the completion of the DFS identified an estimated A$5.7-million in capital savings and A$3/t in operating cost savings at the project, with a number of other cost saving initiatives being assessed.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
RPM Global (mineral resources); Optima Consulting & Contracting (ore reserves and mining); GR Engineering Services (process and mine site infrastructure, overall study compilation); WSP (roads and rail siding infrastructure); Integer Research (market review and pricing); and Golder Associates (environment, hydrology and hydrogeology).

On Budget and on Time?
Too early to state.

Contact Details for Project Information
Centex Metals, tel +61 8 8213 3100 or fax +61 8 8231 4014.