Passport Potash sehr Interessant.

PPI

By Teri Walker –

Passport  Potash Inc. officials have received the long-awaited estimate of the  potash resources lying beneath the company’s land holdings in the  Holbrook Basin, and are pleased with the report’s findings.

German  consulting and engineering firm ERCOSPLAN Ingenieurgesellschaft  Geotechnik und Bergbau mbH, specialists in the potash and salt industry,  unveiled Passport’s NI 43101 compliant mineral resource estimate on  Monday, and said it believes Passport’s property contains sufficient  mineral resources to justify further investment in the mining project,  starting work on a pre-feasibility study to identify the best mining  method, verifying the economic feasibility of the project, and to  eventually transform the designation of the potash resources from  “indicated and measured resources” to “reserves” suitable for mining.

ERCOSPLAN  estimates Passport has 125.6 million tonnes of indicated mineralized  material (ore mass) with an average potassium chloride (KCl) grade of  14.29 percent (equivalent to an indicated resource of 17.96 million  tonnes of KCl) and 587.8 million tonnes of inferred mineralized material  with an average KCl grade of 12.2 percent (equivalent to an inferred  resource of 71.71 million tonnes of KCl.)

Passport  President and CEO Joshua Bleak points out that these results were  derived from only 40 percent of Passport’s land holdings, and he expects  the numbers to increase as exploration drilling continues across the  company’s remaining holdings.

Bleak  said the results of ERCOSPLAN’s report bode well for his company’s  plans to develop a potash mine in the Holbrook Basin, indicating there  is plenty of potash, available in favorable conditions, to satisfy  investors in a future mining operation.

Foremost  among those favorable conditions, Bleak says, is the relatively shallow  depths of Passport’s potash deposits. Bleak says a significant amount  of Passport’s potash deposits are found at about 1,000 feet beneath the  surface. Considering the bulk of the U.S. potash supply is found at  depths greater than 6,000 feet, according to the U.S. Geological Survey,  the costs of bringing Passport’s potash to the surface would be  significantly less than in other U.S. deposits, as well as those in  major potash producing countries such as Canada and Russia where  deposits are deep, based on time and cost to haul the mineral from  beneath the surface alone.

The  favorable depth is found across the basin, with potash layers averaging  1,200 to 1,300 feet beneath the surface in the area, according to the  Arizona Geological Survey.

Other  favorable conditions are the existing transportation and utility  infrastructure–rail, roads, power, interstate and relative proximity to  shipping ports–which reduces mine developer capital investment by  hundreds of millions of dollars.

To  date, as Bleak pointed out, his company has only explored about 40  percent of its land holdings. Passport is continuing to drill  exploratory wells to gain a more precise estimate of the potash present  beneath the company’s land holdings. As of March 29, the company had  completed 33 drill holes, began drilling its 34th hole and was prepping  eight more holes for core extraction. Bleak says the company has spent  close to $5 million just in drilling operations.

As  the company continues with drilling, Bleak said he is also focused on  firming up all of the company’s land and mineral agreements. Passport is  in talks with the Hopi Tribe and the state about tracts of tribal and  state land intermingled with Passport’s current holdings. The company is  still exploring options related to the Fitzgerald Ranch property. In  recent months, Bleak’s company opted out of a letter of intent to  purchase a portion of HNZ Potash’s operation, although Bleak doesn’t see  any decisions related to available land in the basin as final.

For  now, Bleak wants to concentrate on better developing the resource  picture so the company can transition quickly to feasibility and  economic assessment activities, then, hopefully, on to mine planning.

Based  on what ERCOSPLAN has reported to date, along with existing reports  about the Holbrook Basin potash picture, Bleak thinks his company is  well positioned to attract investors for a mine.

Bleak  said each of the companies working in the Holbrook Basin, which include  American West Potash, based in Denver, Colo., and HNZ Legacy, a  subsidiary of Hunt Oil of Texas and NZ Legacy of Arizona, in addition to  Passport, face the similar dilemma of convincing investors and the  potash industry that Arizona has potash.

The  U.S. itself isn’t a major potash producer, relying on imports to meet  the majority of its potash demand. Until recently, Arizona simply didn’t  register on the potash radar. Slowly, the state is gaining some name  recognition in the international potash conversation.

“ERCOSPLAN  carries a lot of weight–they work with all the major producing potash  companies and the top juniors. So, what they say about a project or an  area carries a lot of weight.

"The  further we develop this basin, the more reports that come out on these  projects, the more attention it’s going to bring to the basin. Each of  these favorable reports, whether they come from Hunt or American West or  Passport Potash, bring credibility to our basin and have a benefit  basin wide,” said Bleak.

Speaking  of his company’s plans, should future studies and drill results  continue to be favorable, Bleak said, “We really want to be here. Our  desire is to be here and to make this project work, to be a part of the  community.”

http://www.azjournal.com/2012/04/04/resource-estimate-pleases-passport-officials/