The Projects | Global Industries
Anglo American has conducted a detailed technical review of the Woodsmith polyhalite project in the UK since mid-2020 to ensure the technical and commercial integrity of the full scope of itsdesign.
Now largely complete, the review has confirmed the findings of Anglo American’s due diligence that a number of elements of the project’s design would benefit from modification to bring it up to Anglo American’s safety and operating integrity standards and to optimise the value of the asset for the long term.
Anglo American is also making a change to the leadership of the project following its integration into Anglo American and ahead of the full project execution phase.
Tom McCulley, who has led the development of the Quellaveco copper project in Peru, will take over from Chris Fraser as CEO of Crop Nutrients.
After 12 years of driving the project from inception to its position today, Chris Fraser will step aside and take on a strategic projects role for Anglo American.
Woodsmith project update
The Woodsmith team is further developing the engineering to optimise the configuration of the project, recognising the multi-decade life of the mine.
Particular attention is on those aspects
identified at the outset of Anglo American’s ownership – namely, the sinking of the two main shafts, the development of the underground mining area, and the changes required to accommodate both increased production capacity and the more efficient and scalable mining method of using only continuous miners; such improvements will also require the installation of additional ventilation earlier in the development of the underground mining area.
Anglo American expects that these changes to the design of the mine infrastructure – which will result in a different, enhanced configuration and therefore a different construction and production ramp-up schedule – will ensure that its exacting standards are met and the full commercial value of the asset is realised.
Mark Cutifani, Chief Executive of Anglo American, said: “We are very happy with the high quality and exciting potential of Woodsmith, with the scale and quality of the polyhalite orebody pointing to a Q1 operating cost position and strong margins.
This is a very long-life asset and we are going to take the necessary time to get every aspect of the design right to match our long
term vision and value aspirations. “We have said from the outset that we expect to make improvements and that we will execute
certain elements of the construction differently and with a more conservative schedule. We
expect to have completed our design engineering, capital budget and schedule at the end of 2022, with a fully optimised value case that recognises the upside potential we see in
Woodsmith, and we will then submit the full project to the Board.”
In the meantime, construction of the major critical path elements of the project, principally the two main shafts and the mineral transport tunnel, is progressing, with approximately $0.7 billion of capital expected to be invested in 2022.
Anglo American’s development of the market for its POLY4 fertiliser product continues to
demonstrate the benefits of its multi-nutrient, low chloride characteristics on the full breadth of crops at commercial scale.
Beyond its crop yield and quality benefits over other bulk fertiliser products, the value of the product in the market is also expected to be enhanced by its positive environmental properties – a very low carbon footprint given minimal processing requirements, its natural ability to improve soil health, and its certification for organic use.
