Salt Lake City-The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) expects to get the lease bidding situation straightened out in a few days on 125,762 acres of potash lands located in south/central Utah in an area called Sevier Dry Lake. “There could be an answer sometime next week,” according to BLM Utah spokeswoman Jennie Hammond. Resolution depends on Peak Minerals, which was highest bidder on all 64 tracts. Under BLM rules for solid minerals, however, Peak Minerals is restricted to leasing a total of only 96,000 acres and is required to release all other acreage exceeding that number. The released acreage will be offered to the second highest bidder, which may accept or reject the tract or tracts, and will not be offered to other bidders. “A letter went out to the highest bidder (Peak Minerals) four days after the bidding and we should have a reply in a few days,” Hammond explained. Hammond said Peak Minerals has not violated any regulations by bidding on all the parcels, and is restricted only in the acreage for lease holding. She declined to speculate on the outcome, but it appeared that Great Salt Lake Minerals (GSLM), which bid $25.23 per acre on 42 parcels, stands the best chance of picking up at least part of the acreage that Peak Minerals must relinquish. Luke Kline and Mathews Eggers bid $72 on 14 parcels, and Bro Energy $82.50 on a single parcel. Other than GSLM, which operates a large potash recovery plant on Great Salt Lake in northern Utah, BLM officials had no information on the other bidders. They did identify Peak Minerals as being in the same location in Salt Lake City as Emerald Peak Minerals, which has done preliminary potash studies at Sevier Dry Lake, and called on Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch to help get the land released for leasing.
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