South Africa Kropz facing further delays in ramp-up of Elandsfontein phosphate project

HOUSTON (ICIS)–South Africa phosphate developer Kropz announced it has incurred further delays in the ramp-up of operations at their Elandsfontein project.

Kropz said the most recent delay has largely been driven by initial ore variability in the current mining area. Mining rates and associated delivery of ore to the plant have been compromised due to the presence of competent banks of hard material within the orebody, that were previously unknown.

Elandsfontein is located on the West Coast of South Africa, approximately 95km north northwest of Cape Town and is being planned to deliver more than 1m tonnes/year of phosphate rock.

The company said this hard material it has encountered cannot be mined using free-digging methods and so new equipment has been brought to site to test mechanical breakage of the material and alternative mining methods are being identified.

In order to assess the impact of this hard material on the future mine plan, further drilling is currently in progress. A revised mineral resource estimate will be produced, if necessary once the results of this drilling have been interpreted.

This delay in ramp-up of operations will result in an immediate funding requirement of approximately $4.2m for Elandsfontein which the company will draw from its loan facility.