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South Harz Potash selects Angers to drill at Ohmgebirge

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World Fertilizer,


South Harz Potash has selected H. Angers Söhne Bohr - und Brunnenbaugesellschaft (Angers) to drill the first of two planned twin holes at its Ohmgebirge project in Germany.

Their appointment facilitates the submission of the supplementary details required as the final step in the first hole’s regulatory process. Following a successful permitting application, which has been guided by potash specialist consultant ERCOSPLAN KALIINGENIEURBUERO (Ercosplan), and having secured drill rig availability, drilling of the first hole is expected to commence in 4Q21.

The first of two confirmatory drill holes is located within the Ohmgebirge Mining Licence area, close to the village of Haynrode. SHP is already in possession of a large database of drillhole information for its licence areas, including Ohmgebirge and requires only a minimum of confirmatory drilling in order to elevate the JORC status of each. Geotechnical ground surveying is currently ongoing in preparation for drill pad construction. The drillhole is planned to a depth of 665 m, which will fully penetrate the known potash seam. A HAS UH 4/45 drill rig will be used for the drilling work, which will commence with 508 mm diameter casing and will recover potash and salt core with an ultimate diameter of 63.5 mm (standard HQ). The drillhole will be surveyed using a full suite of geophysical tools including caliper, borehole deviation, temperature, salinity, gamma, gamma-gamma, neutron log, resistance and acoustic logging. Cement bond logs, cement integrity test and formation integrity tests will be carried out as standard.

As part of the development programme at Ohmgebirge, SHP is conducting negotiations with landowners and tenants for second drill site options. SHP has a total inferred resource of 5.3 billion t, within that Ohmgebirge represents 325 million t grading 13.1% K2O. SHP expects the two Ohmgebirge confirmatory holes to lead to a revised mineral resource estimate (MRE) with the inferred resource on that property upgraded to the Indicated category.

The company has negotiated with providers of the various components of the Ohmgebirge scoping study and work is poised to commence once formal drilling permission is received. The scoping study will include a detailed resource assessment by Micon International Co Ltd (Micon), and the inclusion of the results from the twin drill holes, leading to a revised MRE. The revised MRE will allow South Harz to report technical and economic information about Ohmgebirge for the first time. Once complete, K-Utec Salt Technologies GmbH (K-Utec) will then revise the mining and processing sections and update both capital and operating costs. The study will also include an expert appraisal of the potash and industrial salt markets and will provide guidance price forecasts for a financial model.

As a result of the delays experienced in procuring landowner and tenant approved drill sites and the competition for drill rig availability, the company now expects drilling of the second confirmatory twin hole and completion of the scoping study in 1Q22.

SHP’s Managing Director, Dr Chris Gilchrist, commented: “I am pleased that we have agreed the first of the drill sites at Ohmgebirge and importantly secured a specialist drilling contractor, who are currently in short supply as a result of the post-COVID resources and materials rush in Europe. The team in Germany has worked hard to navigate the communications challenges caused by the COVID pandemic and will continue to do so to mitigate any further delays.”

“The potash market has picked up significantly over the past few weeks as post-COVID food security fears have fuelled substantial crop price increases which, in turn, has driven fertilizer sales and prices upwards providing a favourable backdrop to develop the first of our exciting potash projects within the heart of Europe.”

Read the article online at: https://www.worldfertilizer.com/project-news/06072021/south-harz-potash-selects-angers-to-drill-at-ohmgebirge/

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