South Boulder Mines makes key appointment for Colluli Potash Project Feasibility Study

South Boulder Mines (ASX: STB) has appointed Dayle Kenny, a highly experienced open cut mining engineer, to complement its existing feasibility team for the Colluli Potash Project in Eritrea, East Africa.

Kenny has a track record of over 30 years mining and feasibility study experience gained from a variety of senior management roles that are relevant to the Colluli open pit potash project.

His expertise covers all aspects of the mining life cycle and has particular experience in the completion of numerous mining feasibility studies to exploit shallow mineral resources.

Kenny has previously consulted for companies including Rio Tinto (ASX; RIO), Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd, Western Mining Corporation, Normandy Resources NL and Toro Energy (ASX: TOE).

Lorry Hughes, South Boulder’s CEO and managing director, said Kenny "will work closely with the potash expertise of our feasibility manager, Chris Gilchrist, Ercosplan and our Eritrean team to implement and expedite the technical evaluation of the project.

"This is a key appointment and will allow us to progress through feasibility studies without delay. In addition his financial analysis skills to assess project options will be invaluable going forward to allow us to focus on the best options and get into production in 2016 or sooner.”

South Boulder is incorporating its latest high grade potash results, reported at Colluli on July 20, in an upgraded resource estimate for the Area A deposit, which will be used as the basis for the current engineering Scoping Study due to be completed in the September quarter of 2011.

The company is also eyeing an increase to the 1.25 to 1.75 billion tonnes at 18 to 20% KCl exploration target, which has the potential to grow substantially.

The current JORC Resource is 548 million tonnes at 18.6% KCl, for total contained potash of 102 million tonnes.

South Boulder has an initial strategy to consider producing 2 to 10 million tonnes of potash annually from an open pit operation in 2016/2017, which is a substantial target considering the current global production is 55 million tonnes.

The company also has the potential to be the lowest cap-ex and op-ex operation in the world, with industry production costs around USD$100 to USD$250 per tonne, compared to the potash price of around USD$500 a tonne.

South Boulder has forecast operating costs to be in lower 25% of the industry.

Originally published at: http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/18960/south-boulder-mines-makes-key-appointment-for-colluli-potash-project-feasibility-study-18960.html