Strategically located Republic of Congo, which is endowed with the key required raw materials, is poised to be a world leader in fertiliser production.

This is the view of Stéphane Rigny, the executive chairperson of Kanga Potash, which has received its licence to mine and produce potash in the country located on the west coast of Central Africa, to the west of the mighty Congo river. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

“The Republic of Congo will become a world leader in the production of fertilisers,” is Rigny’s forecast.

“We have discovered the thickest carnallite seams ever drilled anywhere in the world. The seams of recoverable carnallite are in the order of 210 m thick,” added Rigny.

Carnallite is a mineral consisting of hydrous potassium-magnesium chloride that is an important source of potassium and the thick recoverable carnallite is at a depth of about 1 000 m.

Part of the work we did was to drill the specific licences where we had identified that impairment and we proved up that we do indeed have up to 210 m.

Rigny described the stability of the Republic of Congo as being very conducive for business.

By putting emphasis on power generation, the country now has excess.

The Kanga project is expected to have a number of spinoff industries and a development multiplier effect that Rigny believes is going to reshape the economy of the Republic of Congo.

Kanga, a private company, is entering the preconstruction development phase of a project aimed initially at extracting 600 000 t/y of muriate of potash (MoP) production from its 12-billion-tonne potash resource.

“There is still a bit of a road ahead of us but from the point at which we press the button to effectively start breaking ground and constructing is a 36-month period. We are now entering the phase where we are going to do the front end engineering, which is part of execution. From there we’ll have about a 36-month period.

“All the pieces of the puzzle on the funding side are identified and certainly, in the next 12 months, we’ll be bringing the project to financial close,” Rigny told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview.

Given the project’s economics and its developmental multiplier aspects, there is significant appetite from private, development finance institution (DFI) and export credit agency (ECA) debt providers.

Regarding the importance of fertilisers, he said: “The entire planet is now very focused on food security, which is a major concern for most parts of the world if not all parts of the world.”

Deglobalisation has set off a race that goes beyond financial returns.

“It’s almost an existential debate with the fertiliser paradigm shifting in the same way as our world paradigm is shifting. We expect huge growth in agriculture and strong demand for fertilisers,” added Rigny.

Kanga Potash aims to develop its project in a phased approach with a first 600 000 t/y MoP production module.

“This will position us as the first African MoP producer and the first MoP producer in the southern hemisphere. From there, we will increase production capacity to over two-million tonnes of production a year of MoP,” he said.

Earlier this year, pressure resulting for current geopolitics resulted in MoP prices rising above $1 000/mt cost and freight (CFR) Brazil. The main importers are Brazil and China and demand is increasingly being seen in Africa.

Mining Weekly: When are contractors likely to be appointed to build the project?

Rigny: A call for tender process was completed and three world class major engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contractors have been shortlisted. Each one of these contractors has the financial capacity, experience and expertise to be our EPC contractor.

Where does the project stand on the cost curve?

The project is unique in the world. It is all about geology and geography. We have discovered the thickest carnallite seams ever drilled anywhere in the world. This has a major impact as it means that we can apply solution mining without ...