GSLM re-files potash expansion application

Ogden, Utah-Great Salt Lake Minerals Corp. (GSLM) is re-filing its permit application with the Army Corps of Engineers to include leases recently acquired in an exchange with the state to increase potash production by expanding solar evaporation ponds on the lake. GSLM officials said they are withdrawing their 2007 application to develop 33,000 acres and re-filing on 31,000 acres in the earlier request, and also including the 38,000 acres on the northwest arm gained in the exchange with the state. In that exchange in January, the company gave up undeveloped leases it has held since 1967 on approximately 30,000 acres that are considered of greater value to wildlife and the lake’s ecology. GSLM spokesman Dave Hyams explained, “Rather than make that a separate request the new application bundles both together to allow for a plan for long-range growth over several decades.” He added that the pond expansion would occur as demands for potash present themselves worldwide. Hyams doesn’t expect the change to cause a significant delay in the Corps of Engineers review process, which includes an environmental impact study, because much of what’s already been accomplished can be carried over. “It doesn’t delay it so much because all the work done on the original request will be grandfathered into the new application,” he noted. While Friends of the Great Salt Lake and other environmental groups have joined in opposition to the expansion, GSLM points out that all of the areas involved in the permit application are identified as suitable for mineral leasing in the Great Salt Lake Comprehensive Management Plan Resource Document. The management plan, sponsored jointly by the Utah Department of Natural Resources and the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, was developed to provide a coordinated natural resources management plan for the lands and resources of the Great Salt Lake. When the new ponds become productive, the state will receive millions of dollars each year in increased royalty payments. Great Salt Lake Minerals currently has approximately 43,000 acres of solar evaporation ponds and pays more in state royalties than any other company on the Great Salt Lake.