Passport's Chairman David Salisbury Talks with Al Korelin about Holbrook Project.
 

http://www.kereport.com/2012/02/18/david-salisbury-discusses-passport-potash/

State Geologist says Holbrook Potash Could Be Signifigant Globally and Benign Environmentally.
By Teri Walker �
 

State Geologist Lee Allison says the deposit of potash in the Holbrook Basin, east of the city of Holbrook, could be a significant player in the global potash market, and there don�t have to be major environmental impacts. �The sense is the Holbrook deposit could be very competitive in the global market,� said Allison, who is with the Arizona Geological Survey (AZGS) in Tucson. �With a relatively high grade of potash available at shallow depths, with uniform layers that aren�t busted up with faults, it could be less costly to mine this potash than deposits in other places. �With the existing railroad and highway infrastructure near the basin, everything is coming together to make Holbrook look very attractive on the global market,� Allison said. The mission of the Arizona Geological Survey is to serve as a primary source of information for the public regarding the state�s geologic and mineral resources, and to advise and assist the public in the development and use of the mineral resources in Arizona. The agency is expected to also �provide technical advice and assistance�to industry toward the wise development and use of the mineral and land resources of the state.� With these mandates in mind, Allison and his colleagues have been watching with interest as the Holbrook Basin has been explored for potential potash mining for the past few years by three mining companies: Vancouver and Apache Junction-based Passport Potash Inc., the first recent explorers in the basin; American West Potash, based in Denver, Colo.; and HNZ Potash, a subsidiary of Hunt Oil in partnership with NZ Legacy, an Arizona-based company.

Predating Passport initiating exploration of the Holbrook Basin in 2009, AZGS had been conducting research of its own to ferret out the implications and influencing factors related to potential mine development in the region. �In 2008, we saw global markets exploding for potash and also saw we had a huge deposit in the Holbrook Basin that was garnering intense interest, so I asked Steve Rauzi (AZGS Oil and Gas administrator) to go back to previous exploration of the basin to see what we really had there,� said Allison. What Rauzi concluded, based on historic exploration data, is that the Holbrook Basin holds 682 million to 2.58 billion tons of potash, ranging in grade from six percent to 20 percent, at an average depth of 1,200 feet. Rauzi�s report release nearly coincided with the timing of Passport�s decision to explore mining potential in the region. Given the ease in extraction that could be achieved in the Holbrook Basin, along with the hundreds of millions of dollars that companies won�t have to invest to build transportation infrastructure�rail and roads�miners could expect to have a globally competitive mine, Allison said.Providing, that is, someone gets going, and gets to the market soon. �There are a dozen or so potash mines in the planning stages right now, and the world market could not absorb that much supply,� said Allison. �The next three or four mines to come on line could fill up enough of the market demand.�

For complete article please visit http://www.azjournal.com/2012/02/17/state-geologist-says-holbrook-potash-could-be-significant-globally-and-benign-environmentally/