As reported in its 21/12/2016 news release, the company has completed a Class 3 (+/- 10% CAPEX) engineering report on the Phase I project. However, through assessment of the overall global potash market situation, the company decided to revise its market destination by successfully entering into a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a senior North American agriculture industry player to transport and offtake 100% of the Phase I project potash production to the North American market.

The engineering contract with SNC-Lavalin is to complete the detailed ‘construction-ready' drawings (issue for construction drawings) for the process plant and associated infrastructure, and specifications, basic and detailed design to accommodate a compaction system for the granular product to meet with the requirement of the North American market. Detailed engineering deliverables will be completed in the early 2019 ready for final tendering and construction. SNC-Lavalin will also provide quality assurance inspections for equipment procurement and on-site technical support during construction.

Bill Xue, president and CEO of Western Resources Corp, commented: "Western Resources is extremely pleased to see that the Milestone Phase I project has progressed to this point. We look forward to working with SNC-Lavalin to move the project to the construction phase and we are excited about the positive results we have generated to date on the Selective Solution mining process. The Milestone project will be an innovative and low-cost method to produce potash."