Salt Lake Potash Limited (ASX:SO4) has awarded EPC and EPCM contracts to GR Engineering Services Ltd (GRES) for construction of the Process Plant and Non-Process Infrastructure (NPI) at its Lake Way SOP Project near Wiluna in Western Australia.
CEO, Tony Swiericzuk, said the contracts combined represent more than 40% of the total project capital requirement.
“We are very pleased to have executed these contracts with GRES who have been a critical contracting partner by our side throughout the design development of the Lake Way processing plant and off-lake infrastructure since early 2019.
“The finalisation of these major Project contracts and the substantial engineering and procurement activity to date has further de-risked the Lake Way Project execution and confidence around the capital budget.”
Mr Swiericzuk said that following substantial progress in detailed engineering and vendor procurement, the Project capital budget has increased marginally from A$254m to A$264m, including an unallocated A$18m contingency.
The Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract involves the provision of plant, labour, materials and construction services for the process plant and NPI valued at A$85 million.
The Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM) contract involves the provision of services for the engineering, procurement and construction management for areas of the process plant and NPI, valued at A$22 million.
Bulk earthworks for the process plant site are now complete, while major vendor procurement is 77% complete and offsite fabrication activities are substantially progressed. The Project remains on schedule for first sales in Q1, 2021.
Construction of the permanent 100-person village was completed in April, with an additional 160 rooms also now complete in preparation for construction ramp up.
Salt Lake Potash (SO4) plans to produce premium, organic Sulphate of Potash (SOP) from salt lakes in Western Australia.