Salt Lake Potash Limited Project update (5528C)

TIDMSO4

RNS Number : 5528C

Salt Lake Potash Limited

18 April 2017

 
 18 April 2017   AIM/ASX Code: SO4 
 
 
                              SALT LAKE POTASH LIMITED 
           The following information was released on the ASX earlier today: 
  Salt Lake Potash's Projects Now Comprise Nine Salt Lakes Totalling over 4,750km(2) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
 

The Directors of Salt Lake Potash Ltd (SLP or the Company) are pleased to advise that a number of recent Exploration Licence Applications have taken the Company's total holdings in the Goldfields mining district in Western Australia to a total of 9 complete or partial salt lake playas, all with proximity to vital infrastructure - the Goldfields Highway, the Kalgoorlie-Leonora rail line and the Goldfields Gas Pipeline.

The combined SOP Projects now comprise over 4,750km(2) of Exploration Permits and Applications. Collectively these lakes form the Company's Sulphate of Potash (SOP) Project, which will now be known as the Goldfields Salt Lakes Project.

All lakes within the Project are at least 200km(2) each in surface area and have a large, flat and relatively bare surface playa for potential evaporation pond construction.

The initial focus of the Goldfields Salt Lakes Project has been on Lake Wells, which has a playa surface of approximately 440km(2) . The Scoping Study released in August 2016 (see ASX announcement dated 29 August 2016) highlighted the outstanding potential economics of extracting hypersaline brine by trenches AND bores for solar evaporation of salts and processing to produce premium SOP. The Scoping Study indicates Lake Wells would be firmly in the lowest cost quartile for any SOP Project in Australia and around the world, with relatively low transport costs being a major advantage.

While proceeding with a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) for Lake Wells, the Company has also begun exploring the other lakes in the Goldfields Salt Lakes Project, starting with Lake Irwin and Lake Ballard. Initial evaporation trials of brines from these Lakes indicate they are both suitable for production of potassium and magnesium sulphate salts for processing into SOP as well as potentially valuable co-products.

To date only reconnaissance work has been undertaken on the other 6 lakes in the Project and comprehensive surface brine sampling and initial exploration is planned for each of them over the course of this year.

The 9 lakes which comprise the Goldfields Salt Lakes Project have been selected for:

   --      scale and potential brine volume; 
   --      known hypersaline brine characteristics; 
   --      potential for both shallow trench extraction and from deeper paleochannel aquifer bores; 
   --      large playa surface for cost-effective evaporation pond construction; and 

-- critically, proximity to the vital transport and energy infrastructure and mining and engineering expertise associated with the major mining centre that is the Western Australian Goldfields.

While all of the lakes comprising the Goldfields Salt Lakes Project share the advantage of their location in the WA Goldfields, it is worth noting that several of the lakes are even closer to rail transport and the gas pipeline than Lake Wells. For example, Lake Ballard and Lake Marmion are located either side of the Goldfields Highway, gas pipeline and rail line, only 140km from the major mining service centre of Kalgoorlie.

There is substantial potential for integration, economies of scale and overhead sharing in the Project due to the number of highly prospective lakes. The flexibility of multi-lake production is also appealing for a natural production process which is subject to climate variability.

The Company will study these advantages more closely as it progresses the Goldfields Salt Lakes Project.

For further information, including a map of the Goldfields Project locations, please visit www.saltlakepotash.com.au or contact:

 
 Matt Syme/Sam Cordin                         Salt Lake Potash Limited                    Tel: [phone] 
 Colin Aaronson/Richard Tonthat/Daniel Bush   Grant Thornton UK LLP (Nominated Adviser)   Tel: [phone] 
 Nick Tulloch/Beth McKiernan                  Cenkos Securities plc (Broker)              Tel: [phone] 
 

Forward Looking Statements

This announcement may include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on Salt Lake's expectations and beliefs concerning future events. Forward looking statements are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside the control of Salt Lake, which could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Salt Lake makes no undertaking to subsequently update or revise the forward-looking statements made in this announcement, to reflect the circumstances or events after the date of that announcement.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

MSCLIFVSSRITLID

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 18, 2017 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)