Toronto — IC Potash said Jan. 16 that in support of its 100 percent-owned Polyhalite Ochoa Project in southeastern New Mexico, it has secured an additional 1,914 acres of land in Lea County from the New Mexico State Land Office, increasing its total state lease and federal permit holdings in the region to approximately 101,500 acres spanning 158.6 square miles. "Based on findings of our original drilling program, the additional land granted by the State has been determined to be strategically important for our Ochoa Project, as it holds prospective mineralization that could expand Ochoa’s already significant resource base of Polyhalite,” said IC Potash President and CEO Sidney Himmel. “In addition, this new lease also covers land located approximately 1,500 feet from the planned mine shaft and ramp bottom (the location of which was designated by the Bureau of Land Management after the initial state leases were granted), making it available for mining in the early production phase of the near century-long mine life.” The project is in the Pecos Valley section of the southern Great Plains physiographic province, approximately 60 miles east of Carlsbad, and less than 20 miles west of the Texas-New Mexico state line. The overall project development plan provides for completion of the feasibility study by the end of August 2013, final environmental permitting by the end of March 2014, and the commencement of construction of the mine and processing facility shortly thereafter. With over 100 full-time employees and consultants currently engaged in the project, it is expected that up to 1,000 new construction jobs, at peak construction activity, will be created, and approximately 400 additional new permanent employees will be hired to support commercial operations once construction is completed. The company intends to become a primary producer of Sulfate of Potash and Sulfate of Potash Magnesia. It says the deposit contains proven and probable reserves of more than 340 million tons of ore within the proposed mine plan.
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