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Exploration junior Mesa Exploration Corp. hopes to kick off a drilling program soon at its potash project in Utah after filing a positive technical report in May. The property which consists of 116 square miles of the White Cloud, Salt Wash and Whipsaw Areas of Grand County Utah is adjacent to the Cane Creek mine where potash has been mined for 45 years.
Listed on the TSX Venture Exchange with a market cap just shy of $10m and only 12.6m shares outstanding, Mesa recently changed its name from Mesa Uranium Corp. to reflect its broader exploration focus which include among others its flagship Green Energy Project, a large brine deposit containing 40% dissolved solids, also in Utah.
The NI 43-101 report states that “there are at least 32 oil and gas test wells in the White Cloud area that define the presence of a very large tonnage of potash in several beds underlying the area controlled by Mesa Exploration. In the Utah Potash Project areas there are at least seven significant potash beds within 6500 feet (1982m) of the surface, and 29 evaporite cycles in total.”
The report goes on to say that “the geology and controls of mineralization in the immediate area of the property are reasonably well known as a result of surface mapping and extensive oil and gas drilling. The presence of the adjacent Cane Creek mine which has been producing potash for 45 years, using the same process envisioned for mining potash at the Utah Potash Project, indicates that solution mining of potash should be feasible”.
A Phase I drilling program will be implemented, with rotary and spot core drilling at each of the projects, upon approval of the applications. Mesa is currently creating a 3-D model of the potash horizons using historic oil and gas well data.
Click here for the complete NI 43-101 report.
Image of the Salt Wash Potash Target Area supplied by Mesa Exploration Corp.
