Kore gets share boost after signing $1.93bn EPC contract

SHARES in Kore Potash gained nearly 17% in Johannesburg after it said an agreement had been reached to build the Kola potash project in the Republic of Congo (RoC).The $1.93bn engineering, procurement and construction agreement was signed in Brazzaville with PowerChina International Group. The contract is fixed priced, meaning the risk of project overruns was “minimised”, the company said.“By signing this fixed-price construction contract with one of the largest international engineering groups, the company has minimised risks associated with cost and time overruns typical in large mining projects,” said Andre Baya, CEO of Kore.Kore, which has a 97% stake in Kola as well as the neighbouring DX project, said it would move on to financing the project with a term sheet due to be delivered within three months of today’s announcement.Construction, which Baya said would be “relatively straight-forward” is expected to take about 43 months.It has taken more than two years to get to this stage. In October 2022, Kore warned of possible delays in the signing of an EPC contract. Before that, the company fell out with the RoC after some of the company’s employees were arrested and detained.However, a new EPC deal was set out by PowerChina (owner of SEPCO) in February. In April, Kore announced the appointment of Baya.Of the $1.93bn contract, roughly $708.9m is for transportation and utilith pipelines which Kore said would make it self-reliant unlike other potash projects. It will supply muriate of potash to Brazil and other emerging African nations.Potash is used to improve crop yields. New mineral fertiliser projects are under currently under development by BHP and Anglo American. The potash market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.5% for the foreseeable future, according to a recent report in BusinessLive.The post Kore gets share boost after signing $1.93bn EPC contract appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com