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| - Includes an Indicated Mineral Resource of 125.6 Million Tonnes - |
HONG KONG, Apr 10, 2012 - (ACN Newswire) - Passport Potash Inc. ("Passport Potash" or the "Company"; TSX.V:PPI; OTCQX:PPRTF), is pleased to announce the receipt of a NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate by ERCOSPLAN Ingenieurgesellschaft Geotechnik und Bergbau mbH (ERCOSPLAN), a consulting and engineering firm, specialized in the potash and salt industry, headquartered in Erfurt, Germany, for its Holbrook Basin property in Northern Arizona. This initial resource estimate consists of 125.6 million tonnes of indicated mineralized material with an average KCl grade of 14.29% (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 12.20% (equivalent to an Inferred Resource of 71.71 million tonnes of KCl). It is important to note that at present the estimated resources cover only about 40% of the Company"s current holdings ("Passport Potash Property").
In the opinion of ERCOSPLAN, the investigated part of the Passport Property contains sufficient resources to justify further expenditures of funds to expand and upgrade the present Indicated and Inferred resource, to start work on a (pre-) feasibility study to identify the best mining method, to verify the economical feasibility of the project and to eventually transform the Indicated and Measured Resources to reserves in compliance with NI 43-101.
Indicated resources occur within a radius of 1,000m of an investigated Passport Potash drill hole and Inferred resources occur within a radius of 2,000m of an investigated Passport Potash drill hole, minus any indicated resources in this area.
Generally, the deposit is divided into three potash beds dominated by Halite with appreciable amounts of Sylvite (up to 50%) and Carnallite locally (up to 20%), while subordinate amounts of Anhydrite and Insolubles occur. The single beds are separated by relatively low grade mineralized beds dominated by Halite.
In their report ERCOSPLAN recommends an additional drill program consisting of 15 additional wells. The recommendation is designed to further expand the indicated and inferred resource as well as to confirm the continuity of the deposit.
Passport Potash is currently in the process of fulfilling the drilling recommendations from ERCOSPLAN. A portion of the wells have already been completed and will be sent to SRC Geoanalytical Laboratories for full analysis. Drill results will be released to the market on a hole by hole basis when completed.
The Company anticipates that it will commence a preliminary economic assessment of the Holbrook Basin Project as soon as the current definition phase is completed. The preliminary economic assessment will aim to conceptualize the viability of a potash mining operation within the Holbrook Basin. The assessment will place particular focus on quantifying the expected benefits of the shallow depth of the deposit as well as the extensive pre-existing infrastructure.
The President and CEO of Passport Potash, Joshua Bleak was very pleased with the initial resource report commenting, "We are vey happy with the initial resource calculation that we have received from ERCOSPLAN. The initial resource is based on only 40% of our total land holdings, so there is great optimism in the future expansion of our resource. We are currently following the recommendations from ERCOSPLAN and drilling the targets that were identified in the report. We look to include that data in a future NI-43101 resource update. We look to begin our preliminary economic assessment shortly as our next step."
To view the report in its entirety click here http://passportpotash.com/pdf/report.pdf
Stephen B. Butrenchuk, P. Geo, P.Geol., Director of Passport Potash, is the Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101, who has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.
Contact:
Passport Potash, Inc.
Mr Peter J KLETAS,
Manager of Corporate Development
Tel: +1-866-999-6251 (Toll Free)
E-mail: peter@passportpotash.com
Mr Clive MOSTERT,
Corporate Communications
Tel: +1-780-920-5044
E-mail: cmostert@passportpotash.com
Quam IR
Ms Anita WAN, Tel: +852-2217-2811, E-mail: anita.wan@quamgroup.com
Ms Sharon AU, Tel: +852-2217-2812, E-mail: sharon.au@quamgroup.com
Ms Venus LAM, Tel: +852-2217-2813, E-mail: venus.lam@quamgroup.com
Topic: Production report
Source: Passport Potash Inc.
Sectors: Metals & Mining, Daily Finance
http://www.acnnewswire.com
From the Asia Corporate News Network
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