KORE, a UK-listed potash mineral development firm, said it had raised $10.6m before costs from a share placement and direct subscriptions.
Funds from the shares issued would be used primarily to pay for early works for its 97%-owned, $2bn Kola project in the Republic of Congo (RoC).
Kore’s shares were placed at 1.7 pence per share versus a current share price 2.08p/share. The stock is up three-fold in the past 12 months.
Kola has been designed to produce 2.2 million tons a year of muriate of potash. This is in terms of an optimised definitive feasibility study. Construction of the project is scheduled for 2026 and first production anticipated about about three-and-a-half years later.
In addition to the project’s early works programme, which will absorb $5m from the capital raise, a further $3.3m will be provided to Kore’s working capital account, and the cost of the fund raise itself.
In November, PowerChina International Group, parent company of SEPCO, signed a $1.93bn EPC contract agreement in RoC’s Brazzaville. The contract is fixed priced, meaning the risk of project overruns was “minimised”, said Kore at the time.
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.
