South Harz Potash Limited has appointed its specialist team to deliver the prefeasibility study for its 100%-owned Ohmgebirge potash development project in Thuringia, Germany.
Hatch is, South Harz Potash says, a recognised leader in the development and implementation of potash projects globally and has worked on projects in Europe, North America and beyond.
ERCOSPLAN and K-UTEC, both part of this team, have a long tradition in the development of potash projects in many parts of the world, and both are particularly experienced in the Thuringian “hartsalz” typical of the region, according to the company. Micon, meanwhile, will continue to provide geological support and will be responsible for the mineral resource estimate.
The PFS is set to further refine the engineering, design and cost estimates (to +/-20%) for the Ohmgebirge development, following the scoping study completed in August 2022. Key workstreams have already commenced with overall PFS completion scheduled for January 2024.
South Harz Chief Operating Officer, Lawrence Berthelet, said: “We are very pleased to be working with global industry leaders, Hatch, and premier German mine and process engineering teams, ERCOSPLAN and K-UTEC, to advance our flagship Ohmgebirge Development. Coupled with our geology partner, Micon, the external team will deploy its experience alongside our owner’s team to advance the project through the PFS workstreams and will provide essential support to the Environmental Impact Assessment and permitting processes announced earlier this month.”
The team will be under the in-house leadership of South Harz, Chief Operating Officer, Lawrence Berthelet, with key PFS specialist discipline engineering responsibilities.
Hatch will act as the lead consultant and study manager (external), with Owner’s Engineer responsibility. It will also carry out the infrastructure engineering and design, including all energy trade-off studies, plus capital and operating cost estimates.
ERCOSPLAN is the specialist engineering consultant responsible for mine planning, geological risk assessment, geotechnical modelling, shaft hoisting and underground backfill technology engineering.
K-UTEC AG Salt Technologies has responsibility for process flowsheet design, backfill technical and constituent engineering.
Mining consultant, Micon International, will provide continuity in geological modelling, Competent Person and mineral resource update provision.
The South Harz project hosts a globally large-scale potash JORC (2012) mineral resource estimate of 5,000 Mt at 10.6% K2O of inferred resources and 258 Mt at 13.5% K2O of indicated resources across four wholly-owned project areas within central Europe. This comprises three perpetual potash mining licences, Ohmgebirge, Ebeleben and Mühlhausen-Nohra, and two potash exploration licences, Küllstedt and Gräfentonna, covering a total area of approximately 659 sq.km.
The August 2022 scoping study outlined a 4.5 Mt/y run-of-mine project with a K2O head grade of 13.5% over a 21-year life.