WA Kaolin (WAK) is off and running at its Wickepin project, recently completing its first kaolin shipment from the operation.
This marks a significant achievement for WA Kaolin, which has been advancing the Wickepin project since the company purchased it from Rio Tinto in 1999.
The shipment was completed after plant commissioning was successfully completed, paving the way for the Wickepin’s initial production phase whereby WA Kaolin said it was approaching nameplate production capacity of 25 tonnes per hour.
Wickepin’s processing plant has been constructed to utilise WA Kaolin’s proprietary dry processing method – the ‘K99 Process’ – designed specifically for the project’s high-grade resource.
WA Kaolin said the K99 Process will produce an “ultra-bright, high-quality” kaolin product at a low cost. This differs from other methods, which rely on chemical bleaching and multiple wet mechanical and magnetic separation methods.
“This has truly been a momentous occasion with the completion of the commissioning stage of our Wickepin processing plant and the successful first shipment of K99 produced at the plant,” WA Kaolin chief executive officer Andrew Sorensen said.
“Of great significance, which we want to reiterate, is that we have completed the commissioning phase at Wickepin with an outstanding safety record, which is something the WAK team is incredibly proud of.
“We look forward to reaching our target 200,000-tonnes-per-annum (tpa) production rate in the coming year whilst progressing with our Stage 2 development, which will see our production increased to 400,000tpa.”
WA Kaolin has contracted 90 per cent of its targeted 200,000tpa Stage 1 output to offtake agreements and letters of intent.
Coinciding with its first shipment, WA Kaolin announced the appointment of former New Century Resources managing director Patrick Walta as a non-executive director.
Walta founded New Century in 2017 following the acquisition of the Century zinc mine in Queensland, which has since become the 13th largest zinc producer worldwide.
Find out more about the Wickepin project