Kropz changes its plans again

The South African company Kropz has postponed the start of phosphorite mining at the Elandsfontein field: earlier it intended to start the works in the second half of 2018, then it planned to start in 2019, and now the plan has been re-scheduled to 2020.

At the same time, Kropz changed the estimate of the costs required before the start of production – they are now talking about $36 million instead of the previous $16 million.

To date, Kropz has invested about $120 million in a project to develop the Elandsfontein phosphorite deposit. The production and support infrastructure is almost completely ready.

In general, the production of phosphate raw materials should be 1.35 million tons per year with the prospect of growth to 3 million tons per year, it will be conducted in an open way.

In the summer of 2018, Kropz entered into an agreement on the supply of phosphate rock concentrate with Foskor, the only vertically integrated producer of phosphoric acid and fertilizers in South Africa. Under its terms, Foskor purchases will account for about a third of phosphate rock production at Elandsfontein.

The problem that Kropz cannot solve yet is that the phosphorus content in the Elandsfontein field is too low and does not allow profit at current world prices for phosphate fertilizers.