Search Share Prices
Salt Lake Potash sets out exploration targets for WA project
Mineral exploration company Salt Lake Potash announced sizeable initial exploration targets for its eight remaining lakes at the Goldfields Salt Lakes project (GSLP).
The total stored exploration target for the GSLP in 290m tonnes to 458Mt of contained sulphate of potash (SOP) with an average grade of between 4.4 and 7.1kg/m3, including the previously known mineral resource of the ninth and final lake.
On a 'drainable porosity' basis, this is expected by Salt Lake to translate into 26-153Mt of SOP.
The ninth lake, Lake Wells, already has a JORC-compliant resource which currently lays between 80m tonnes and 85m tonnes of contained SOP.
Chief executive Matt Syme said: "These initial exploration targets allow us for the first time to quantify the real scale of the long term opportunity at the GSLP. We have already made very substantial progress in revealing the outstanding potential at Lake Wells and these exploration targets illustrate how the broader project has a multiple of that potential. This places the GSLP asset at the leading edge of world scale SOP development opportunities."
The GSLP asset covers 3,312 square kilometres in Western Australia and consists of a playa surface which is amenable to low cost on-lake construction, according to Salt Lake Potash.
The company also reports that the site provides excellent access to transport energy and infrastructure and favourable evaporation conditions.
Salt Lake is intending to complete a scoping study at Lake Way by mid-2018, and a 40-50ktpa demonstration is currently planned for there rather than the hitherto most advanced Lake Wells.
As of 1245 BST, Salt Lake Potash's shares were up 4% at 30.72.
House broker Shore Capital said 0.5Mtpa sulphate of potash is possible in 6-7 years, "we think".
With a total area of the nine lakes of 3,312 sq km, with each of the lakes generally around 200km2 or larger, analysts said the presence of in-situ surficial clays makes them suited to lower-cost on-lake evaporation pond construction. "There should also be ample available area to develop large networks of lowcost trenches for brine extraction."
ShoreCap's Yuen Low reiterated his view that GSLP has "the potential to become one of the world's major SOP producers, envisaging a multi-lake integrated operation potentially producing up to circa 1Mtpa SOP."
.