South Harz Potash gives driller green light to begin at German project

South Harz Potash (ASX: SHP) has received approval to drill its first hole in the company’s Ohmgebirge project in eastern Germany with the drilling company told to begin immediately.

The program is set to be completed within eight to 10 weeks.

The hole, which will be drilled to 665m and penetrate the known potash, will cost €2.3 million (A$3.55 million).

Managing director Chris Gilchrist said securing the drilling permit is a major milestone for the company.

Drilling at one hole, and then the second, will provide the company with a clear path forward.

Dr Gilchrist said it will allow South Harz to fully evaluate Ohmgebirge and secure the necessary information to complete a preliminary technical and economic viability assessment.

In region with long potash mining history

The company has, with its five projects in Germany, a total inferred resource of 5.3 billion tonnes, with Ohmgebirge holding a 325Mt resource grading 13.1% potassium oxide.

The company has chosen the specialist deep drilling company of H. Angers Sohne Bohr und Brunnenbaugesellschaft (Angers) to drill the first of two planned holes at the project.

South Harz, formerly Davenport Resources, holds three perpetual mining licences, Ohmgebirge, Ebelebenand Mühlhausen-Nohra, and two exploration licences, Küllstedt and Gräfentonna, in the South Harz potash District in north-western Thüringia, central Germany.

These licences are located in a region with a long potash mining history and established infrastructure, and which was mothballed after the collapse of the communist East Germany.

Application made for second hole permit

South Harz has termed its portfolio of German licences as representing Western Europe’s most significant potash resource.

An application was lodged in July for the drilling of second hole at Ohmgebirge.

The company says it expects results from the two confirmatory drill holes will allow it to upgrade the present 2.7sq km Ohmgebirge inferred mineral resource.

The aim of the drilling is to recover potash core from depth to assist in verifying historical data carried out in the 1980s by the state mining company of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR).

The first drill hole of this new program is designed to twin a GDR hole which recorded a potash intercept of 5.5m at 14.4% potassium oxide.

South Harz is hunting high-grade muriate of potash.