{"id":1097012,"date":"2019-01-30T12:45:04","date_gmt":"2019-01-30T12:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=966456"},"modified":"2019-01-30T12:45:04","modified_gmt":"2019-01-30T12:45:04","slug":"danakalis-potash-project-could-be-a-game-changer-for-eritrea-un","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1097012","title":{"rendered":"Danakali\u2019s potash project could be a game changer for Eritrea \u2014 UN"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A United Nations report <a href=\"http:\/\/www.danakali.com.au\/the-colluli-project\/undp-report\"  rel=\"noopener\">published Wednesday<\/a> says Danakali\u2019s (ASX, LON:DNK) Colluli potash has the potential to boost the economy of Eritrea, country that until two months ago was on the U.N.\u2019s sanctions list.<\/p>\n<p>The independent study, commissioned and funded by the U.N. Development Program (UNDP), assesses a wide range of econometric data and includes findings from talks with Eritrean government officials, relevant public institutions, and other Colluli stakeholders.<\/p>\n<p>It also suggests that Colluli, which sits close to the Red Sea by Eritrea&#8217;s eastern border, could \u201cmeaningfully\u201d advance the north African\u00a0nation\u2019s sustainable development agenda.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cColluli is much more than a great mining asset. Not only does it have outstanding grade, size, location and simplicity; Colluli\u2019s products will also help farmers and support food security in Eritrea, across Africa and beyond,\u201d executive chairman, Seamus Cornelius, said <a href=\"http:\/\/www.danakali.com.au\/images\/stories\/axs-announcements\/2019\/20190130_UNDP_report_released.pdf\"  rel=\"noopener\">in a statement<\/a>. \u201cWe appreciate the magnitude of the opportunity and the responsibility that comes with developing an asset of this significance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><q class='pullQuote-right'>UNDP says the Colluli potash project has the potential to significantly boost Eritrea\u2019s economy and advance the country\u2019s sustainable development agenda.<\/q><\/p>\n<p>In the initial phase of operation, Colluli would produce more than 425,000 tonnes a year of sulphate of potash (SOP), a premium grade of fertilizer. Annual output could rise to almost 850,000 tonnes if Danakali decides to go ahead with a second phase of development.<\/p>\n<p>Colluli is being developed as a joint venture with the Eritrea\u2019s state mining company and the Australian miner has already struck an offtake agreement with EuroChem, one of the world\u2019s top fertilizer companies. Under the 10-year deal, EuroChem has agreed to buy at least 87% of Colluli\u2019s output from the first phase of development.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Growing interest<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>The projects location has its pros and cons. On one hand, being so close to the Red Sea coast, makes it one of the world\u2019s most accessible potash deposits, with mineralization beginning at 16 metres, which also makes it the world\u2019s shallowest. Additionally, it proximity to ports will provide easy access to fast-growing Asian markets.<\/p>\n<p>Colluli is also by the border with Ethiopia, with which Eritrea held one of Africa\u2019s deadliest border war. Despite a peace deal signed in December 2000, the two sides remain on a war footing, with their massive armies still facing off.<\/p>\n<p>Compensating for political issues, Colluli containing at least 1.1 billion tonnes of potash, enough for at least 200 years of production, though its mine life has been estimated so far in only 30 years.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_966466\" style=\"width: 910px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-966466\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Colluli_Close_Proximity_to_Coast.png\" alt=\"Danakali\u2019s potash project could be a game changer for Eritrea \u2014 UN\" width=\"900\" height=\"371\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Colluli_Close_Proximity_to_Coast.png 900w, http:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Colluli_Close_Proximity_to_Coast-300x124.png 300w, http:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Colluli_Close_Proximity_to_Coast-768x317.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Colluli\u2019s location. (<em>Courtesy of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.danakali.com.au\/the-colluli-project\/colluli-positvely-unique\"  rel=\"noopener\">Danakali.<\/a><\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>When Canada\u2019s Lundin Mining bid for fellow miner Nevsun Resources <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/nevsun-shares-soar-as-it-rejects-1-2-billion-bid-from-lundin-euro-sun\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">in May last year<\/a>, its initial offer was structured to avoid taking Nevsun&#8217;s Eritrean mine at Bisha because of rights concerns. It changed tack in July, as Ethiopia and Eritrea&#8217;s rapprochement gained pace, offering to buy Bisha too.<\/p>\n<p>But <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/lundin-gives-nevsun-zijins-1-41-billion-offer\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">Nevsun rejected the bids<\/a>, agreeing in September to a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/chinas-zijin-sell-1-2b-worth-shares-fund-nevsun-takeover\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">buyout by China&#8217;s Zijin Mining<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Mining industry experts said <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/nevsun-extends-mine-bisha-mine-eritrea-end-2022\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">the success of Bisha<\/a>, which has produced gold, silver, copper and zinc since construction was completed in 2010, showed ventures in Eritrea can succeed.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/danakalis-potash-project-game-changer-eritrea-un\/\">Danakali\u2019s potash project could be a game changer for Eritrea \u2014 UN<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/\">MINING.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UNDP says the Colluli potash project has the potential to significantly boost Eritrea&rsquo;s economy and advance the country&rsquo;s sustainable development agenda.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/danakalis-potash-project-game-changer-eritrea-un\/\">Danakali&rsquo;s potash project could be a game changer for Eritrea &mdash; UN<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/\">MINING.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1271,404,369,698,438],"tags":[9,15],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097012"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1097012"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1097086,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097012\/revisions\/1097086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1097012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1097012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1097012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}