NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment - Verde Potash

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Verde Potash Plc 11-2 Cerrado Verde Project NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment Green pellets will feed a grizzly car at a rate of 210t/h wet basis. There will be approximately 7 min residence time and at this time the pellets are dried in ascending and descending areas with hot air from the preheating zone. The total effective length of the grizzly car will be approximately 40m with a width of 3m. The dust generated at the grizzly car will be collected by a dust collector and will return the heated and clean air to the pellets drying areas. Fines collected return through pneumatic conveying to the fines dosing system, making part of the load that feeds the mixer. The fines generated along the bed of the grizzly car will be transported back to the bins in the mixing area. After drying the pellets feed the rotary kiln at a rate of 172t/h dry basis, 12% filling degree, 60 minutes residence time, max temperature 1300C. Power supply demand for the kiln and all its auxiliary equipment will be about 3700KW. Reaction temperature will be approximately 1300ºC. After roasting, thermopotash is formed and must be quickly quenched. Quenching is performed in a water reservoir. After this treatment the pellets will be extracted from the bottom of the reservoir and dried in a rotary dryer. Evaporated steam will be collected and condensed and returned to the quench circuit. Evaporation losses in the pellets drying condenser and cooling tower will be compensated with makeup water added at the cooling tower basin. From the rotary dryer thermopotash is sent to a final grinding area, where its size is reduced to 100% passing 100 mesh. After classification, the product is repelletized and conveyed to a final classification step using a vibrating screen. The pellets within the specification range, -4 + 2mm, will be dried and conveyed by belt to the storage warehouse where the final product will be stored and further dispatched by trucks. The product is a potassium source only sparingly water soluble, and recovery is anticipated to be better than 90% of the 8% potassium as K 2 O. In the proposed process the purpose of calcining is to thermally release potassium from Verdete, so that potassium becomes readily exchangeable for agriculture. 11.1.2 Project Scenarios and Capital Costs For this project, three potential scenarios for heating the kiln have been identified: 1. Petroleum Coke heating directly in the kiln with the Verdete; 2. A dead roaster for utilizing any fuel with heat exchange to the kiln (i.e., no transfer of residue); and 3. Natural Gas heating. The scenarios are summarized in Table 11.1.2.1. As can be observed although capital cost is lowest for option 3 the operating cost is double options 1 and 2. Option 1 presents the middle capital cost and lowest operating cost but Verde cannot yet confirm that petroleum products do not contaminate the product during the kiln roasting and as such cautious has to be applied in advocating this process option. However, it has been stated by Dr. Gaspar Korndorfer, University of Uberlandia that even if residual organics from combustion were absorbed by the pellets, there will be a positive effect regarding agronomic efficiency. SRK Consulting (U.S.), Inc. September 16, 2011 Cerrado Verde_NI 43-101 PEA_343500.020_007_KG
Verde Potash Plc 11-3 Cerrado Verde Project NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment Dead burnt carbon has beneficial properties, increasing water retention in the soil, ensuring better fertilizer retention (negative surface charge), therefore reducing deleterious elements leaching. In the case of residual hydrocarbons adsorbed by the pellets, in minor quantities, it will be hard to determine any negative effect. Indeed, in some applications of the fertilizer industries waste oil was applied to fertilizer to provide mechanical particle stability. This supports the application of option 1 or 2 for heating but requires confirmation. Option 2 would have the benefit that any fuel source could be utilized in a dead roaster up front of the kiln and transfer heat to the kiln ensuring there would be no mix of fuel and product in the kiln keeping the product pure. Although this option has the highest capital cost, the operational cost is similar to the direct petroleum coke application in the calcine and a small incremental increase in operating costs (
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NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment - Verde Potash

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