Fertiliser build gets going

In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) last week, KLL said it had started building 78 kilometres of access road from the Kumarina Roadhouse on the Great Northern Highway to its salt lakes target 160 kilometres south west of Newman.

KLL said works were being carried out under a miscellaneous licence which allows construction of the access road and a gas pipeline required for the SoP processing plant, a water supply, accommodation village, communications and other infrastructure.

It was granted after a land access agreement was signed with the Gingirana Native Title claim group last March.

The ASX statement indicated the works were being undertaken in close consultation with representatives of the Gingirana people so they avoided areas considered culturally significant by traditional owners.

KLL said once the access road was completed water bore drill pads would be constructed at the Beyondie, Sunshine and 10 Mile areas of the project, west of the Beyondie station ruins, on a string of salt lakes between the highway and Canning Stock Route.

A project base area would be cleared for a 12-person accommodation village - already ordered - and for water supply and storage tanks, power generator, waste collection, offices and workshop.

Drilling was expected to start before the end of the first quarter this year, KLL said.

It said ordered purpose-built trailer-mounted pump testing equipment capable of being used across multiple bore sites was expected to arrive next month.

Managing director Brett Hazelden said he was pleased with progress.

"It has been impressive to see the efficient way our small team has been able to get things underway so soon after the company listed in the final weeks of December," Mr Hazelden said.

"The upgrading of (station tracks to) roads and future installation of the core accommodation and infrastructure facilities is a key step in providing the necessary backbone required for advancing and further de-risking the Beyondie Sulphate of Potash project."

As previously reported, KLL is the front runner of several companies looking to exploit potassium and sulphur-rich brine in ancient waterways beneath salt lakes stretching across remote areas of WA's Little Sandy, Great Sandy and Gibson Deserts.

KLL's plan is to pump brine from below the lakes up to the surface through 40 metres of sand and evaporate the moisture off in shallow ponds, leaving behind potassium, sulphur and sodium.

The processing plant will separate out the sodium using gas-fired equipment, with a dedicated pipe line tapped into the Goldfields Gas Transmission line near the highway.

It proposes to produce 150,000 tonnes of SoP fertiliser a year for domestic use and for export via Geraldton port, 800 kilometres away.

Australia imports between 30,000 and 40,000t of SoP a year and salt lakes in North America, China and Chile are the only places where it is produced from brine.

Pilbara cattleman and businessman Brent Smoothy is major shareholder and founder of KLL.

The Beyondie project is on Kumarina pastoral lease which is one of four he operates.

He also owns Newman-based helicopter services and earth moving businesses.