LONDON (Alliance News) - Salt Lake Potash Ltd on Thursday reported "excellent" initial pump test results at Lake Wells in the Northern Goldfields of Western Australia.
Initial pump testing of the basal sand and surface aquifers at the Lake Wells sulphate of potash project returned "very encouraging" results, Salt Lake said.
The results "substantially" increased the company's knowledge of the lake hydrogeology and increased its confidence in its model of extracting brine from the aquifers for production of sulphate of potash by solar evaporation, Salt Lake said.
The deep basal sand aquifer was pump tested from a depth of 105 to 120 metres. The surface aquifer was pump tested at two locations drilled to a maximum depth of 24 metres.
The pump tests provided aquifer permeability measurements within or exceeding the expected range for the two aquifers tested. The basal sand aquifer and one of the surface aquifer pump tests were pumped at four litres per second, which was the maximum capacity of the pump as constrained by the borehole diameter.
Based on aquifer response, higher pumping rates would be achieved with a larger capacity pump, the company said.
"These early tests provide us with a lot of encouragement about the potential to draw very substantial brine flows from both the basal sand and surface aquifers. Next we will test the potential of the fractured siltstone aquifer as we continue a comprehensive drilling and pumping campaign to construct the Lake Wells hydrogeological model, in parallel with completion of the scoping study," Chief Executive Officer Matt Syme said in a statement.
Shares in Salt Lake were up 8.4% at 19.24 pence Thursday.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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