VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Near-term fertiliser producer Potash Ridge has successfully converted its exploration and option agreement for the Blawn Mountain property, in Utah, into a mining lease, setting the stage to start production on the deposit.
The licence conversion followed the TSX-listed firm’s subsidiary, Utah Alunite, having made the final instalment of $668 936 to the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration.
Potash Ridge has now fulfilled all obligations to gain the mining lease and, subsequently, has unfettered rights to develop the Blawn Mountain property.
"Securing unencumbered rights to developing Blawn Mountain is a major milestone in advancing this world-class project. Blawn Mountain will be a long-life, low-cost producer of potassium sulphate strategically located in North America's underserved market. Development of Blawn Mountain continues, with the major activities being advancing detailed engineering, securing offtake, and project financing,” said president and CEO Guy Bentinck in a press release.
Potash Ridge is bringing two potassium sulphate fertiliser processes into production – Blawn Mountain in Utah and Valleyfield Fertiliser, in Quebec, for which it has recently secured a 25% offtake agreement.
The 230 000 t/y sulphate of potash Blawn Mountain project can be built in three years, and could be the lowest-cost US-based fertiliser producer, at an expected cost of $174/t, and produce average cash flows of about $107-million a year. It has an after-tax net present value, at a 10% discount, of $489-million.