NUTRIENT producer Kropz Plc reckons it will see the first phosphate rock exports from its Elandsfontein project, on the West Coast, in the first quarter of this year.
This is great news as the project initially suffered some frustrating setbacks setbacks. In a recent update Kropz said it had made significant progress towards commissioning production at Elandsfontein – indicating the project schedule was tight but in track and within the original capital budget.
Phosphates are a key ingredient in fertilisers.
Kropz said Elandsfontein site activities were currently split between finalising the piping installation and the electrical, control and instrumentation installation as well as early commissioning activities. The company confirmed earthworks and civil construction were already complete, while the fabrication and erection of structural steel, platework and piping were also complete with mechanical equipment installed.
Kropz said pre-commissioning activities were advancing well. These entailed testing signals from field instrumentation to the operating system, testing input/output signals for instruments and direction testing of electrical drives.
Transnet has provided the company with a draft port access agreement to support the long-term export of Elandsfontein’s phosphate rock through the port of Saldanha. Kropz said exports through Cape Town would only be required for a maximum of 30% of Elandsfontein’s export production of approximately one million tons per annum…and only if capacity through Saldanha is unavailable for a period of time.
