Salt Lake Potash : Expert Testwork Confirms SOP Process with Excellent Recoveries

ASX ANNOUNCEMENT

14 September 2017 EXPERT TESTWORK CONFIRMS SOP PROCESS WITH EXCELLENT RECOVERIES

Salt Lake Potash Limited (the Company or SLP) is pleased to report excellent results from SOP process development testwork performed by globally recognised potash process leaders, Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC).

The comprehensive testwork program validates and refines the parameters used in the process plant flowsheet for the Company's Goldfields Salt Lake Project (GSLP). Importantly, the testwork was conducted on a 60kg representative sample of kainite harvest salt produced on site at Lake Wells.

Highlights from the SRC process testwork include:

High Potassium Recovery Indicated

• Bench scale testing on the complete plant process confirms an overall process plant potassium recovery of over 92% is achievable, validating parameters of GSLP mass balance models to date.

• SOP produced exceeds the industry high-grade benchmarks of 52% K2O and 54%SO4.

  Flexible Process Options

• The feed salt can be easily upgraded through removal of coarse halite, reducing the mass feed to flotation by up to 25%.

• Both reverse and direct flotation show excellent recovery (up to 97%), providing optionality in process selection depending on brine handling requirements.

• Both mechanical cell and column flotation were tested successfully.

  Potential for Additional Co-products

• TheSRC work has opened an opportunity to make a valuable MgSO4 co-productwith limited additional process input.

  Further Development Work Accelerated

• SRC has been engaged to perform selected further optimisation tests followed by a continuous locked cycle operation, to produce significant quantities of schoenite flotation product and SOP to be produced for further testing and marketing.

Commenting on the testwork, SLP's CEO, Matt Syme, said "We are very pleased with the results received from SRC, the world's leading potash laboratory, which reiterate the excellent attributes of the Project. The testwork results validate the flowsheet for the GSLP and provide us with a number of important options to further optimize the production process and therefore the Project."

Enquiries: Matthew Syme Telephone: [phone]

The GSLP SOP Production Process

The proposed process for production of SOP at the GSLP sees brine extracted from Lake Wells concentrated in a series of solar ponds to induce the sequential precipitation of salts, firstly eliminating waste halite and then producing potassium-containing salts (Harvest Salts) in the harvest ponds.

The Harvest Salts are then treated in a processing plant to convert these salts into SOP, while minimising deportment of sodium chloride (a contaminant) to the product. The SOP production process consists of attrition, reverse flotation to remove chlorides, conversion of the mixed sulphate salts to schoenite, and crystallisation of the schoenite to SOP, before drying and packaging.

Figure 1: Simplified Lake Wells (GSLP) SOP Conceptual Flowsheet

SRC Process Development Work

The testwork was performed by the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) in Saskatchewan, Canada. SRC is a recognized global leader in potash process metallurgical testing. SRC's Minerals team has the facilities and expertise to design and perform potash processing and metallurgical testing work for the potash industry worldwide.

The objective of the SRC testwork was to validate and refine the process parameters used in the production model and process flowsheet at the Company's Goldfields Salt Lake Project (GSLP). These process parameters were designed by the Company's metallurgical consultants based on experience overseas and results for GSLP lab testwork in the USA and Australia.

The testwork program was designed to improve the Company's understanding of the processing plant component of the operation using actual Harvest Salts produced from Lake Wells brines under site conditions. These Harvest Salts differ from salts produced in laboratory evaporation trials and provide a much more representative basis from which to develop an economic process route.

The key sections of the testwork were the following:

The testwork program was designed and managed by the Company and international brine-processing expert Mr Carlos Perucca of Carlos Perucca Processing Consulting Ltd (CPPC).

Harvest Salt Sample Preparation

The Company selected a single harvest (~60kg) of harvest salt from the Site Evaporation Trial (SET) at Lake Wells which produces Harvest Salts from Lake Wells' brine under actual site conditions. The Harvest Salts are within the range of salt composition (chemical and physical characteristics) expected in a commercial scale operation (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Harvest Salts delivered to SRC

Feed Assay and Characterisation

The received harvest salt had excess brine removed before being homogenised and sampled for chemical assay and mineralogical analysis by SRC. The remaining salt was screened at 2mm with oversize crushed to 100% passing 2mm. This formed the feedstock for the process development work. ICP analysis of the homogenised feed sample is shown in Table 1.

Sample	CaO, %	K2O, %	MgO, %	Na2O, %	S, %	Insol, %
Feed Salt	0.02	10.1	12.4	16.4	9.88	0.1
Repeat	0.02	10.4	12.5	16.8	9.92	0.1

Table 1: Harvest Salt ICP Assay

XRD analysis of the harvest salt showed the species present as predominantly Kainite (>50%) with lower proportions of Halite and various hydrations of magnesium sulphate, correlating well with the chemical analysis. Figure 3, below, shows the XRD results and interpretation.

ASX ANNOUNCEMENT | 14 September 2017

Figure 3: Harvest Salt XRD results

The harvest salts were also analysed by Scanning Electronic Microscope (SEM) to ascertain the level of crystal agglomeration in the as-harvested salt. Figure 4, below, shows the high proportion of agglomeration in the

Figure 4: SEM of the feed salt