Salt Lake Potash inks MOU with Australian gold miner

AIM-quoted mineral exploration company Salt Lake Potash has signed a memorandum of understanding with gold mining firm Blackham Resources on the potential development of a potash sulphate project in Australia.

The MOU between the two parties concerns a possible operation at Lake Way, near Wiluna, in the Goldfields region of Western Australia where Salt Lake Potash holds roughly 290 square kilometres of the Lake Way paleochannel, and Blackham owns the Matilda-Wiluna gold project at the northern end of the lake which was said to contain an "exceptional" grade of brine of 25kg per metre of cubed potash sulphate.

SLP will acquire Blackham's brine rights, with Blackham being given access to the gold rights on Sale Lake Potash's Lake Way, and each keeping royalties on their own project, as well as savings due to shared overheads and infrastructure, excellent freight facilities, already secured native title agreements, and high grade brines further reducing capital and operating costs.

SLP chief executive Matt Syme, said, "Lake Way appears to be an ideal site for our SOP Demonstration Plant and subsequent expansions. We expect it would result in material time and cost savings for us and also bring significant benefits to the Wiluna Community."

"It appears to have the best combination in Australia of scale, brine chemistry, permitting and infrastructure access and justifies the effort to prove its potential. Work will continue in parallel at Lake Wells, where our Mining Lease Application is in progress," he added.

As of 1500 GMT, shares had gained 5.16% to 29.44p.