Western Potash develops groundwater well for Milestone potash project

The project is located 35 km southeast of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Water pump test results show that the groundwater source can fully support the water requirements for the Phase I Project.

AGAPITO Associates Ltd, the company’s mining engineering consultant, has determined that the project requires approximately 40 m3/hr of water. Western Potash utilised existing geophysical data from the project exploration phase and established a well location 8 km southeast of the plant site as the optimal place for the groundwater source. The selection of a groundwater source was based on a detailed examination of all possible water source options, with full consideration of minimising the impact of the community and environment.

The company claims that the target aquifers are the Viking Formation and the Mannville Formation, located at depths of approximately 680 m and 745 m below surface, respectively. These aquifers contain non-potable water, not suitable for agriculture and are isolated and far below local domestic or agriculture use aquifers and will therefore not interfere with local water supplies.

Drilling work commenced in early June, and water well was reportedly completed on 18 July, with all site facilities decommissioned and removed. According to the Water Supply Well Report completed by WaterMark Consulting Ltd, the established water source is capable of fully supporting the required water usage of the Phase I Project over the life of the project.

In the statement, Western Resources claims that the next steps will be to submit to the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency Western Potash’s water usage application, and to commence the engineering and design for the water pumping and pipeline facilities from the well to the Phase I project site.

Bill Xue, President and CEO of Western Resources, said: “The management and board of directors are very excited with the positive results from the water well program. The success of the groundwater source further clears the hurdle for the Phase I project to move forward to the next step. We will now focus on the next steps of the Phase I project including early site work in preparation for project construction to start in early 2019.”

Read the article online at: https://www.worldfertilizer.com/project-news/25072018/western-potash-develops-groundwater-well-for-milestone-potash-project/