TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Eastern Canada-focused explorer Red Moon Potash has tasked consulting engineering firm Apex Geoscience of Edmonton, Alberta, to undertake a formal resource assessment of its Captain Cook halite (rock salt) deposit, in western Newfoundland.

The report would seek to establish a maiden resource estimate for the deposit, based mainly on drilling results from 2013 and 2014, related geophysical data and historical information, the company advised on Wednesday.

Red Moon believed that the deposit had commercial potential, noting that a mineral resource assessment would be critical to help verify that potential and, if warranted, accelerate its search for a partner to advance the project towards development.

Red Moon was not planning to undertake any further drilling until the results and recommendations of the assessment had been received. The report was expected to be complete by December.

Previous drilling at the Captain Cook project had uncovered a relatively shallow, high-grade salt deposit, next to the site of a former gypsum mine. The project had access to extensive infrastructure, including a port about 5 km by road from the discovery hole that was constructed by the former gypsum mine operator. The Trans-Canada highway and several other secondary roads and high-voltage power lines also crossed the property. The Stephenville airport was a 20-minute drive from the property.

Meanwhile, Red Moon also reported that it had received a $100 000 grant from Newfoundland and Labrador’s Department of Natural Resources junior exploration assistance programme, as a contribution towards its 2014 drilling campaign.

Red Moon currently owned 902 mineral claims, covering about 22 500 ha of prospective lands for salt/potash mineral exploration in the Bay St George basin. The basin was of similar geology to the Sussex basin, in New Brunswick, where potash and salt were currently being mined.

Canada was the largest producer of the crop nutrient potash, followed by Russia and Belarus. The most significant reserve of Canada's potash was in Saskatchewan and controlled by Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan.