19 January 2023

Kore Potash Plc

("Kore Potash" or "the Company")

Review of Operations for the Quarter ended 31 December 2022

Kore Potash (AIM: KP2, ASX: KP2, JSE:KP2), the potash development company with 97%-ownership of the Kola Potash Project ("Kola" or the "Kola Project") and Dougou Extension ("DX") Potash Project in the Sintoukola Basin, located in the Republic of Congo ("RoC"), provides its quarterly update for the period ended 31 December 2022 (the "Quarter").

Quarterly Highlights

Kola Project

·    The process to potentially finance the construction of Kola further progressed in line with the Memorandum of Understanding ("MoU") signed with the Summit Consortium ("Consortium") in April 2021.

·    Contractual terms are being negotiated prior to accepting the Engineering, Procurement and Construction ("EPC") proposal for the construction of Kola provided to the Company by SEPCO Electric Power Construction Corporation ("SEPCO"), the engineering partner of the Consortium.

·    The financing proposal for the full construction cost of Kola is expected to be provided by the Consortium following agreement on the EPC contract terms that the Company is currently finalising with SEPCO.

·    On 19 October 2022, the Company announced receipt of correspondence from the Minister of Mines of the RoC (the "Minister") expressing discontent with the progress towards construction of the Kola Project. The letter was received following the arrest and subsequent release, without charge, of two senior employees of the Company by the Congolese police. Neither the employees nor the Company have been informed of the reason for the arrests. The Company provided a response to the Minister on 11 November 2022. On 17 December 2022 the Company met in person with the Minister, and the discussion included a further update on the progress towards financing Kola. At the end of the meeting the Minister expressed his thanks for how the Company responded to his most recent letter and assured the Company of his and the RoC Government's ongoing support for Kore Potash and to develop the Kola Project.

Corporate

·    On 21 December 2022, Mr Sameer Oundhakar resigned as a Non-Executive Director on the Board as a nominee of Oman Investment Authority ("OIA").

·    On 23 December 2022, the Company announced that Mr Gavin Chamberlain Chief Operations Officer ("COO") would be leaving the Company in January 2023.

·    As of 31 December 2022, the Company held US$5.0 million in cash.

Operational Activities

Kola Project

The financing process for the construction of the Kola Project progressed further, in line with the MoU signed with the Consortium in April 2021.

Kola EPC

Kore Potash signed a MoU with the Consortium in April 2021 for the Optimisation of Kola, the provision of an EPC contract proposal and to provide a debt and royalty financing proposal for the full construction cost of Kola.

The results of the Optimisation Study ("Study") announced on 27 June 2022 supported moving to the next phase of the Kola development.

On 28 June 2022, the Company announced that it had signed a Heads of Agreement ("HoA") for the construction of Kola with SEPCO.

On 10 October 2022, Kore Potash announced that SEPCO had delivered the EPC proposal for Kola. The EPC proposal was approved for presentation to Kore Potash by the Boards of SEPCO, and its parent company, Power Construction Corporation of China ("Power China").

The EPC proposal reflects the capital cost and construction timeline reported in the Study and the terms agreed to in the HoA. The EPC proposal includes an EPC Agreement which details the contractual terms in a format congruent with the FIDIC silver book (2nd Edition, 2017) conditions of contract.

The contractual terms are being finalised prior to acceptance of the EPC. Kore Potash and SEPCO are in dialogue to complete this process. The Company notes that it may transpire that SEPCO will require further SEPCO and Power China Board approvals prior to the finalisation of the contractual terms.

Kola Financing

The Consortium has advised that the strongly positive outcomes of the Study continue to support its proposed financing of Kola and it intends to provide the royalty and debt financing proposal for the full construction cost of Kola after the EPC contract terms are finalised.

Correspondence from Minister of Mines

The Company's local subsidiary received a letter dated 12 October 2022 from the Minister expressing his discontent with aspects of the administration of the Company's subsidiary companies in the RoC and the apparent lack of progress that Kore Potash and the Consortium are making towards the financing of Kola.

The letter was received following the arrest, and subsequent release without charge, of two senior employees of the Company by the Congolese police. Neither the employees nor the Company have been informed of the reason for the arrests.

The letter generally reserved the Government's right to take measures in accordance with its existing agreements and the Mining Code of the RoC, failing a response from the Company within 30 days.

The Company advised the Minister, in a formal response on the 11 November 2022, that it is continuing to progress the development of the Kola and DX projects towards production, believes that it is compliant with its obligations to the Government of the RoC under the Mining Code and Mining Convention and will continue to keep the Minister briefed on the Company's plans and progress.

Following receipt of the Minister's letter, an internal review of the administration of the Subsidiaries did not identify any material deficiencies in their administration. The Company has additionally commissioned two separate independent reviews of the administration of its Subsidiaries via a respected RoC legal services firm and the RoC office of an international legal and financial services firm. These reviews are planned to be completed in January 2023.

On 17 December 2022, the Company met in person with the Minister, and the discussion included a further update on the progress towards financing the Kola Project.

At the end of the meeting, the Minister expressed his thanks for how the Company responded to his most recent letter and assured the Company of his and the RoC Government's ongoing support for Kore Potash to develop its Kola Project.

The Minister reinforced the great importance of the Kola Project to the people of the RoC and encouraged the Company to continue to keep him informed on its continued progress. He further encouraged the Company to continue with its work to conclude the EPC contract terms and financing arrangements to enable the commencement of the construction of the Kola Project as soon as possible.

Other Kola Matters

Separate from the Consortium's activity, Kore Potash's management team has also continued discussions with potential offtake partners with the capability to procure all Kola production and who have expressed interest in partnering with the Company.

DX Potash Project

The Company is currently updating the Pre-Feasibility Study and production target for the DX project and will update shareholders on the outcomes of this work shortly.

Corporate

Mr Oundhakar served on the Board of the Company as a non-executive director since 1 April 2021 after having been nominated by the OIA. He resigned from his employment with OIA to pursue other interests and as a consequence was no longer able to continue as a Director of Kore Potash. OIA has advised the Company of its preferred non-executive director candidate to replace Mr Oundhakar. This nomination is currently being considered by the Board and the Company intends to provide a further update to shareholders following completion of the normal due diligence processes.

Mr Gavin Chamberlain, the Chief Operating Officer will be leaving the organisation in January 2023. Mr Ryan Leland continues in this role as Project Director for Kola and will report directly to the Chief Executive Officer.

As at 31 December 2022, the Company held US$5.0 million in cash.

There were no mining production or construction activities during the Quarter.

Quarterly cashflow report

In accordance with the ASX Listing Rules, the Company will also lodge its cashflow report for the Quarter today. Included in those cashflows are non-executive directors' fees and the CEO 's salary of US$198,000 settled in cash.

The Company invested US$1,087,000 in exploration in the Quarter, which comprised US$ 729,000 related to the Kola Study and US$358,000 for the DX DFS Study. The Company ended the Quarter with US$5.0 million in cash.

This announcement has been approved for release by the Board of Kore Potash.

Market Abuse Regulation

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

ENDS

For further information, please visit www.korepotash.com or contact:

Tenement Details and Ownership

The Company is incorporated and registered in England and Wales and wholly owns Kore Potash Limited of Australia. Kore Potash Limited has a 97% shareholding in Sintoukola Potash SA ("SPSA") in the RoC. SPSA has 100% ownership of Kola Potash Mining SA ("KPM"). KPM has 100% ownership of the Kola Mining Lease on which the Kola Deposit is situated. The Kola Deposit is located within the Kola Mining Lease. SPSA is also the 100% owner of the Dougou Mining Lease. The Dougou Mining lease hosts the Dougou Deposit and the DX Deposit.

Under the existing Mining Convention, the RoC Government is entitled to 10% ownership in the Kola and DX projects. The transfer of this 10% awaits instructions from the Government and the Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves are shown below in gross and 90% attributable bases. 

Table 1: Schedule of mining tenements (Republic of Congo)