NPD.V NEWS OUT!!! North American Potash Developments Inc. Acquires Potassium Sulfate/Alunite Property in Santa Cruz, Arizona
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire -02/27/12)-North American Potash Developments Inc. (TSX-V: NPD.V -News)(OTCQX: RNGTF.PK - News)(Frankfurt: 3OZ.F - News) ("NA Potash" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with Sulfate Resources LLC. ("Sulfate") to acquire a 70% interest, and up to an additional 6% interest, in certain mineral rights located at the northern end of the Patagonia Mountains, Santa Cruz County, Arizona. This property is known as the Patagonia Alunite Property (the "Property"). The Property consists of 222 lode mineral claims in alunite deposits which carry substantial potassium sulfate values, and applications for potash prospecting permits covering a total of 5,680 acres. These mineral concessions are located in the western portion of the Red Mountain range in Arizona, and are located about 50 miles south-southeast of Tucson.
The Property was the subject of an extensive program to identify potassium sulfate and alumina resources by Earth Sciences Inc. ("Earth Sciences") in the 1970's. Earth Sciences drilled 100 exploration drill holes averaging 133 feet in depth, and conducted extensive bedrock sampling and metallurgical testing. Based on their data, Earth Sciences estimated some 303 million tons of mineralized material that averaged 30% alunite (91 million tons alunite), or 11.1% alumina (33 million tons Al2O3). The mineralize material is estimated to also contain 18 million tons of potassium sulfate (K2SO4). These historical estimates are not being treated by the Company as current mineral resources or mineral reserves as defined in NI 43-101, as a qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify these historical estimates as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. The Company notes this historical data as being subject to possible future validation and verification.
Undrilled parts of the Patagonia property include Red Mountain, Kunde Mountain and Saddle Mountain. These areas are geologically favorable for identifying further mineralization. Metallurgical test work and preliminary feasibility studies by Earth Sciences indicated that the potassium sulfate plus alunite deposit can be mined using the open cut method. Possible mill sites were not evaluated by Earth Sciences. Infrastructure for mining is excellent: Arizona is host to a favorable climate, has good highway access, has access to railroads, has electrical power and has a nearby mining-related labor force.
The Company plans to target the economic potential of producing potassium sulfate and alumina from the Property.
