Chaketma Phosphate

Chaketma Phosphate

PhosCo continues meaningful engagement with the Tunisian government regarding the status of the most advanced project, Chaketma, following the denial of an application for a Mining Concession as announced 3 January 2023.  In consultation with the Tunisian Ministry of Industry, Mines & Energy, the Chaketma project company ('CPSA', 50.99% PhosCo) has applied for a new Exploration Permit over Chaketma, mirroring the original permit boundary.

Project location


The Chaketma permit is located 210 km south-west of Tunis by road and just 35km from the nearest railhead which connects to the Port of Goulette/Rades for export. 


The bulk of the phosphate is located at the base of a massive limestone unit close to the top of a high segmented plateau, which is divided into distinct domains or prospects by a series of normal faults. 

For a full description of the KEL and GK resource estimations, refer to the following releases on the ASX website:

  • 15/03/2022: Phosphate Resource Update Delivers 50% increase at KEL.
  • 17/11/22: 90% Conversion of Inferred to Indicated Resources at GK.

The deposit has a JORC compliant Resource of 146Mt @ 20.6% P₂O₅, confirmed from drilling at only two of the project’s six prospects:

  1. GK: 90.9Mt @ 20.2% P₂O₅
  2. KEL : 55.5Mt @ 21.2% P₂O₅
  3. SAB: 9 holes drilled (ave 15.3m @ 20.7% P₂O₅)
  4. DOH : One hole drilled (13.25m @ 18.8% P₂O₅)
  5. GE: One hole drilled (2m @ 13.4% P₂O₅)
  6. KEF : Undrilled

Only drill results from GK and the northern area of KEL have been used to calculate the current Resource of 146Mt @20.6% P₂O₅.

The phosphate resource at KEL is large, shallow and features simple geology. Drilling results have produced consistent, wide, high-grade phosphate mineralisation close to surface, with 50% of the prospect's known surface mineralisation yet to be drilled.

Phosphate Drill Results

KEL

CHDD079 37.6m @21.9% P₂O₅ from 56m
CHDD115 33.6m @22.2% P₂O₅ from 65m
CHDD078 35.3m @21.0% P₂O₅ from 23m
CHDD112 33.8m @21.6% P₂O₅ from 42m
CHDD097 32.9m @21.6% P₂O₅ from 59m
CHDD072 31.2m @21.4% P₂O₅ from 56m

GK

CHDD160 49.6m @21.1% P₂O₅ from 135m
CHDD156 31.9m @21.08% P₂O₅ from 120m
CHDD161 30.4m @20.2% P₂O₅ from 67m

The current Measured and Indicated JORC resource at KEL totals 55.5Mt @ 21.2% P₂O₅. The resource is defined from drilling which only covers 47% of the surface area of known KEL mineralisation.

Conceptual Development

In December 2022, the Chaketma Scoping Study confirmed a long life, high margin project of 46 years at 1.5Mt/year. Conceptual development is envisaged in two stages:

Stage 1

Rock Phosphate Mine 

  • Multi-decade mine life.
  • Open pit mine, low strip ratio, simple wash/screen or flotation, favourable metallurgy.
Stage 2

Integrated Fertiliser Project 

  • Commence BFS on value-add phosphoric acid plant.
  • Road, rail, power, oil and gas pipelines and port capacity infrastructure available.

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