Western Potash Corp. (the "Company") (TSX.V: WPX, FSE:
AHE) is pleased to announce that it has received the complete results from
its first phase drill program on the Milestone property in southern Saskatchewan.� Gamma ray results have been reported
in previous news releases for the four wells drilled in the initial
exploration phase and potash assay results for the first well were
reported in a June 15th, 2009 company release.� Highlighted in the fourth well is a 24.4 m composite
intersection of potash mineralization with a weighted average grade of
18.2 wt % K2O across three potash members.
The 100% owned Milestone property, comprising 500 square kilometers, is located 30 kilometers
southeast of Regina, and southeast of Mosaic's Belle Plaine Mine, one of the largest producing potash
solution mines in the world. The potash mineralization encountered
within the Patience
Lake and Belle Plaine potash members in this drill program is
similar in grade and thickness to those reported at the operating Belle
Plain mine.
The Milestone-003 well is the fourth well drilled on the
Milestone property and is located approximately 12.5 km and 7.5 km to the
southeast of the first and second well sites reported previously.� A summary of the results from this
well are presented in Table 1.
Table 1: Potash
thickness and weighted average grade from the Milestone - 003 well.
Potash Member
|
From (KB, m)
|
To��
(KB, m)
|
Interval (m)
|
K2O Wt %
|
MgO Wt %
|
Insoluble Wt %
|
Best Intercept
|
Patience Lake
|
1715.55
|
1729.5
|
13.90
|
18.38
|
0.09
|
11.32
|
�21.34
wt% K2O over 6.1m
|
Belle Plaine
|
1731.45
|
1736.3
|
4.85
|
18.37
|
0.09
|
3.78
|
�20.11
wt% K2O over 3.6m
|
Esterhazy
|
1756.15
|
1761.8
|
5.60
|
17.75
|
1.57
|
3.96
|
�30.17wt% K2O over 1.7m
|
Total
|
|
|
24.35
|
18.23
|
0.43
|
8.13
|
|
Note: Total
intervals noted in this release are composites. All drill intercepts
noted in this release are considered the true thickness of the
mineralization; as the salt beds are relatively flat-lying and
down-hole directional surveys indicate the hole was essentially
vertical upon intersecting the salt and potash sequences.� The core recovered from this hole
was logged, photographed, split, and sampled at the Company's secure
core storage facility on the property. All samples were handled in
accordance with the Company's Chain of Custody procedures. The
half-split core samples from the wells were analyzed at the
Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) Laboratory in Saskatoon. The Laboratory has been
certified by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) to conform to the
requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2005 (CAN-P-4E).
The Company is very pleased with the potash
grades intersected in the Patience
Lake and Belle Plaine potash members reported for the
Milestone-003 well, as these are considered particularly exceptional.� In addition, these potash hosting
members have very low carnallite and low
insoluble contents, which is also very encouraging as they are critical
factors for developing a solution mine. The grades reported from the
Esterhazy member are lower in comparison to grades reported from the
same member in previous wells. Also, the carnallite
content within the Esterhazy potash member is� considered too high for
effective economic extraction of potash in a solution recovery process.
The potash assays results from the
Milestone-003 well support the Company's decision to accelerate a
resource definition program in the vicinity of this well as reported in
the July 23, 2009 press release.�
The Company is currently planning and
permitting an additional 5 well resource definition drill program to
define the grade, thickness, and extent of this higher grade zone
within the Patience
Lake and Belle Plaine members.�
A 2D seismic survey over this priority area has already
commenced.� Furthermore, a 3D
seismic survey will also be carried out following the resource
definition drill phase with the goal to fast-track and establish an
NI43-101 compliant resource.� The
Company's board has approved an $8.5 million CAD budget for this
program.�
The Company is also pleased to report results
from the second and third wells drilled on the property (Milestone-002,
and Milestone-002A respectively), a summary of which is presented in
Table 2.� Milestone-002 was
drilled 5.25km to the south east of the first well, and encountered an
anomaly not apparent in the 2D seismic data that removed most of the
potash mineralization in the Patience Lake Member.� This anomaly was likely due to local
structure and water ingress resulting in localized dissolution.
The Milestone-002A well was directionally
drilled from the same well site as Milestone-002, intersecting the
potash beds 800m to the north of the vertical second well. The Company
decided to drill this directional hole to test the theory that the
anomaly observed in Milestone-002 was a local anomaly.� Geological observations, gamma ray
logging and geochemical results have indeed confirmed this theory.
Table 2: Potash
thickness and weighted average grade from the Milestone-002 and
Milestone-002A wells.
Hole
|
Potash Member
|
From (KB, m)
|
To
(KB, m)
|
Interval (m)
|
K2O
Wt %
|
MgO Wt %
|
Insoluble
Wt %
|
Best
Intercept
|
Milestone 002
|
Patience
Lake
|
1680.7
|
1681
|
0.3
|
17.5
|
0.06
|
7.8
|
|
Belle
Plaine
|
1697.5
|
1701.7
|
4.2
|
15.59
|
0.08
|
5.2
|
�18.5 wt%
K2O over 2.7m
|
Esterhazy
|
1719.9
|
1726.2
|
6.3
|
22.28
|
0.06
|
5.35
|
26.82
wt% K2O over 3.0m
|
Total
|
|
|
10.8
|
19.55
|
0.07
|
5.36
|
|
Milestone 002A
|
Patience
Lake
|
1674
|
1683
|
9
|
17.53
|
0.09
|
10.58
|
�21.21 wt%
K2O over 5.4m
|
Belle
Plaine
|
1687.35
|
1691.3
|
3.9
|
12.82
|
0.09
|
4.71
|
�14.18 wt%
K2O over 1.8m
|
Esterhazy
|
1710.4
|
1716.9
|
6.5
|
24.1
|
0.93
|
5.38
|
�30.85wt% K2O and� 0.13wt% MgO
over 2.4m
|
Total
|
|
|
19.4
|
18.78
|
0.37
|
7.66
|
|
Results from the Milestone-001 and
Milestone-002A wells demonstrate regional continuity of all three
potash members between these wells.�
While these results show positive potash mineralization, the
Company is compelled to focus its initial resource definition in the
vicinity of the Milestone-003 well, where higher potash grades and
better thicknesses within the Patience Lake
and Belle Plaine members have been
demonstrated.
Western Potash Corp. is a mineral exploration
company engaged in the evaluation, exploration and development of
potash mineral properties in Western Canada.� The Company intends to define and
develop a world-class potash deposit in an ecologically sustainable,
economically efficient and socially responsible manner.
The in-house qualified persons for the
purposes of NI 43-101 guidelines are J. Patricio
Varas, P. Geo and Dean Pekeski,
P. Geo, both of whom have reviewed and approved the contents of this
news release.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
"J. Patricio
Varas"���
J.
Patricio Varas
President and CEO
This news release contains Forward Looking Statements regarding
our intentions and plans. Forward looking statements in this news
release include that the potash mineralization encountered in this drill program is
similar in grade and thickness to those reported at the Belle Plain
mine; that the potash grades intersected in the Milestone-003 well are
considered exceptional; the potash hosting members have very low carnallite and low insoluble� contents, which is encouraging as
they are critical factors for developing a solution mine; results
support the acceleration of the resource definition program in the
vicinity of Milestone-003; that the Company is planning and permitting
a 5 well resource definition drill program in conjunction with a 2D
seismic survey already underway;�
that a 3d seismic survey will follow the resource definition
drill phase to fast-track an NI43-101 resource; the Company has
approved an $8.5 Million CAD budget for the program;� that results from all the wells
compel the company to focus its initial resource definition in the
vicinity of the Milestone-003 well.�
It is the Company's policy not to update forward looking
statements. Various
factors may prevent or delay our plans, including but not limited to,
contractor availability and performance, weather, access, mineral
prices and success and failure of the exploration and development
carried out at various stages of the program.� Readers should review risk factors
applicable to junior mining exploration companies generally to
understand the variety of risks that can affect the Company.
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed
and does not accept responsibility for
the adequacy or accuracy of this release.