Vancouver, B.C. and New Delhi, India-Pebble Creek Mining Ltd. said Dec. 29 that it is withdrawing its Reconnaissance Permit (RP) applications for potash exploration in Rajasthan, India. On July 29, 2008, the company announced that it had filed three RP applications on a total of 6,000 square kilometers of previously prospected potash deposits and that the government had accepted these applications. Pebble Creek says that after it applied for the RPs, it learned that some prior applications of unknown location and size had been filed in respect of some of the areas covered by the company’s applications. Only recently the company learned that the state government has granted RPs on 14,400 square kilometers to prior applicants. Those RPs cover all of the main target areas identified by the company. As a result, this week the company will notify the Rajasthan government that it is withdrawing its three potash RP applications and any fractions thereof. It says that under existing law, a party is allowed only 10,000 square kilometers of RPs within a given state. By withdrawing these applications, the company will retain the ability to apply for other large-area RPs in Rajasthan, which is known for Vedanta’s large Rampura-Agucha zinc mine, Hindustan Copper’s Khetri mine complex, and several other copper and zinc districts. Pebble Creek says it has been in India since 1995 and has built up good will and technical and business infrastructure. The company’s main project is the Askot massive sulphide deposit of copper, zinc, gold, silver, and lead in Uttarakhand state.
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