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FeRtILIseR sPotLIGHt Greg Cochran

Reward for patience

he global COVID-19 pandemic might “It’s been intensive. Once we went
Thave forced Reward Minerals Ltd to through the six-week public review pro-
temporarily suspend activities at its Lake cess at the state level, it prompted would
Disappointment sulphate of potash (SoP) you believe somewhere around 140 sub-
project, but it appears unlikely to delay missions, which is almost unheard of.
perhaps the biggest milestone in the Some other projects, certainly not in our
company’s history to date. space but in other more sensitive miner-
Reward is anticipating formal confir- als, have attracted a similarly large num-
mation of its environmental approvals – ber of comments, but this is certainly a
both at state and federal level – over the fairly recent record, I’d suggest.
coming months for the project, marking “A huge feather in the cap must go to
the end of an arduous process that has the team involved in putting all this to-
been at least four years in the making. gether. It’s been four years in the mak-
At the time of print, the statutory ap- ing since the initial on the ground work
peals process for a state environmental started, and the studies started two on the ground work.
permit was nearing its conclusion and years before that, so it’s been 6-7 years Cochran said he was not at all fazed
could be finalised imminently. It comes of effort to get it to this point. It’s amazing by the forced site closure given the com-
after the board of Western Australia’s the hurdles we’ve met.” pany is currently focused on finalising the
Environmental Protection Authority Perhaps fortunately for Cochran, he environmental approvals to attract a po-
(EPA) presented its recommendation for has become somewhat accustomed to tential strategic partner to assist with the
development approval to the Minister for lengthy and heavily scrutinised approv- project’s development.
Environment late last year. als processes, having endured a similar “I think a number of the companies and
Reward was also awaiting feedback on experience in obtaining state and federal investors, as in funds, that we’ve been
the “preliminary documentation” submit- environmental permits for the Honey- speaking to previously were perhaps a
ted to the Commonwealth Department of moon uranium mine in South Australia little bit nervous in terms of whether or
Agriculture, Water and the Environment during the mid-to-late 2000s. not we would get the go-ahead on the
earlier this year for consideration for a Cochran is however not as experi- environmental side,” Cochran said.
federal environmental approval. Assum- enced in dealing with global health crises “It’s a small project and while we’re not
ing the green light is given, all key ap- such as the COVID-19 outbreak which going to bet the bank and lose the bank
provals would likely be in hand by mid- has forced many industries around the if we don’t get environmental approval,
year. world to shut down for extended periods. it was a major issue in decision-making
Lake Disappointment, about 340km The northern part of the Lake Disap-
east of Newman, is only the second SoP pointment project – which hosts the with potential strategic partners. Now
project in WA after Kalium Lakes Ltd’s camp, trenches and evaporation ponds that we see the light at the end of the tun-
upcoming Beyondie mine to receive a used in recent crystallisation trials – is nel is not a looming train smash, we’re
development approval recommendation, located within the federally-sensitive quite excited about a constructive en-
although this is the first SoP project to be East Pilbara Designated Biosecurity gagement with one of the groups we’ve
assessed by public review. Area. Under present interpretations, all been dealing with, but also potentially
“We have been assessed at a level of of Reward’s activities on site have been others we’re now opening the door to.”
scrutiny that is unparalleled in the SoP deemed non-essential and the company With a strategic partner on board,
space in terms of level of detail,” Reward now must patiently wait for certain re- Cochran believes the company can final-
chief executive Greg Cochran told Paydirt. strictions to be lifted before resuming any ise its pumping trials, process flowsheet
and resource-to-reserve conversion re-
quirements – all for input into a DFS –
within 12-18 months.
The 2018 PFS estimated $451 million
(including contingency and pre-produc-
tion costs) is needed to produce 407,500
tpa SoP for a cash cost of $335/t and
AISC of $376/t FOB Port Hedland, based
on a 27-year mine life which currently
represents less than 10% of the Lake
Disappointment resource.
“It sounds simple, but the devil is in the
detail because there’s still a lot of work
to do,” Cochran said. “In saying that, we
reckon with the permitting behind us,
we’re in a really strong position.”
– Michael Washbourne
Reward is poised to receive state and federal environmental approvals for its Lake
Disappointment SoP project over the coming months

Page 34 MaY 2020 aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT