Jul 18 2019
Western Resources Corp. takes great pleasure in announcing that its fully owned subsidiary Western Potash Corp. has started its drilling program with Artisan Consulting and AKITA Drilling on July 14, 2019, at the Company’s Milestone Phase I Potash Project situated 35 km southeast of Regina, Saskatchewan.
Western Potash Corp. has commenced its drilling program with Artisan Consulting and AKITA Drilling on July 14, 2019, at the Company’s Milestone Phase I Potash Project. (Image credit: Western Resources Corp.)
The Milestone Phase 1 Project will be the latest and most groundbreaking, eco-friendly, and capital-efficient new potash mine in Canada. By employing sophisticated horizontal drilling methods, the Project will be able to primarily target the high-grade potash bed; later, by means of selective dissolution, it will selectively leach the potash to the surface.
This will be the world’s first potash mine that does not leave any salt tailings on the surface, thus considerably decreasing water consumption.
The drilling program will continue for around four months and will include six wells that link to three caverns. Each cavern includes an injection well under the potash bed and linked withdrawal well that brings the brine back to the surface.
Following successful drilling and with right regulatory approvals, the caverns will initially start “cold mining” to broaden the caverns and saturate the brine with salt in preparation for production, after which “hot mining” will be performed that will recirculate brine into the caverns and selectively extract the KCl leading to the accumulation of an inventory of potash in the crystal pond.
The process plant will be built and ready to collect the inventory of potash in the pond by mid-2020. The plant will subsequently de-brine, dry, and compact the potash and truck to an adjacent distribution center.
Artisan Consulting Services Ltd has taken part in a number of oil and gas as well as potash projects in Western Canada, NWT, and China. It is recognized for offering focused supervision services for the drilling of horizontal, vertical, and directional wells within Western Canada.
One of the biggest and most esteemed drilling service companies in Canada is Akita Drilling. AKITA has more than 40 drilling rigs in its North American inventory, which involves use for drilling operations in the United States and Canada. Their broad experience and a strong industry network were found to be an ideal collaborator for the Phase I Project and Western Potash Corp.
Western Potash Corp. is very pleased to have reached this milestone on the Project. Our strong project team enabled us to reach this milestone in line with our schedule. We are very confident that this project will lead to the world’s first selective solution potash mine that leaves no surface tailings in Saskatchewan.
Mr Bill Xue, President and CEO, Western Resources