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Historic potash resource at Ebeleben mining licence

 

Published by
World Fertilizer,

Davenport Resources is pleased to announce a historic resource of 356 million t of 16.1% K2O (57.4 million t contained K2O) in Sylvinite, equivalent to 91 million t of potassium chloride (KCI), on its 100% owned Ebeleben mining licence in the South Harz region of Germany.

Ebeleben is one of three perpetual mining licences in the South Harz basin that Davenport acquired recently from German government agency Bodenverwertungs-und-verwaltungs GmbH (BVVG). The resource on the licence was estimated in 1987 and given a classification of C2 (minable or ‘Balance Resources’) and c2 (not minable or ‘Non-Balance Resources’) under the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) system.

At that time the Ebeleben mining licence was defined as an extension of the Volkenroda potash mine and the operator commenced shaft sinking within the Ebeleben mining licence area with a view to commencing mining. However, the reunification of Germany resulted in the closure of the Volkenroda mine in 1991 and sinking of the shaft stopped at a depth of around 100 m.

Davenport Managing Director Chris Bain said: “The detailed information supporting this historic resource estimate will allow Davenport to fast track cost-effective brownfields evaluation of the area with the aim of reinvigorating the South Harz as a globally significant potash producing region. Davenport anticipates that a minimum number of carefully located confirmation drill holes can readily validate these historic resources to allow conversion to JORC 2012 standard. Further historic resources on the other mining licences acquired from BVVG will be released as the data is reviewed.”