Passport Potash Inc. (TSX VENTURE:PPI) has announced that it has engaged Boart Longyear M & E Drilling Services to lead a drilling program on Passport's Holbrook Basin Potash Project.
Drilling is scheduled to begin in December and Passport plans to include all of the drilling data in an NI 43-101 compliant resource evaluation. Passport has selected strategic locations to conduct the drilling program for the potential to further delineate and expand the potash resource on Passport's state sections as well as beginning to outline the potash potential of the Twin Buttes Ranch.
Boart Longyear has vast drilling experience and has been the lead drilling company for Potash in the Holbrook Basin. Passport has received the necessary permits from the Arizona Oil and Gas Commission and from the Arizona State Land Department to proceed with the drilling. The drilling will be a combination of reverse circulation and diamond core drilling, with the primary focus of coring the entire potash horizon utilizing a Boart Longyear core drilling rig. This horizon will then be surveyed with downhole geophysical tools recording gamma ray and density measurements, the industry standard for potash exploration.
Passport is continuing negotiations with the Karlsson Group Inc. to negotiate the terms of a Definitive Cooperative Agreement (the "DCA") in which Passport and Karlsson outline plans to jointly develop a potash resource. By combining holdings, Passport and Karlsson have over 120 sections of state and private lands which total nearly 80,000 acres.
About the Holbrook Potash Project
The Holbrook Basin is located in an area with excellent infrastructure and is known to contain a 600 square mile potash bed in the Permian Supai Formation as documented by the Arizona Geological Survey (AGS) Open File Report 08-07. The potash bed was drilled and delineated in the 1960s and 1970s by Duvall Corporation and Arkla Exploration. Due to low potash prices in the 1970's the Holbrook Basin potash bed was not developed after discovery.
The Company also announces it has granted 2,352,500 incentive stock options to directors, employees and consultants at a price of $0.10 for a 5 year term.