Market disappointed with Sirius's Dakota drilling

24th Jan 2011 07:51

Potash development group Sirius Minerals said the first hole drilled in its Dakota Salts Project has confirmed the continuity of the Saskatchewan potash beds into North Dakota.The total Esterhazy Member intersection was 27.9 ft (8.5 metres) with an average grade of 11.8% K2O (potassium oxide). Within this was a 1.1 feet (0.34 metres) intersection grading of 41.0% K2O and 10.3% Carnallite.Stockbroker Daniel Stewart described the outcome of the drilling as "a disappointing result," adding that, although it was encouraged that potash was intersected in the hole, "the average grade of the intersection was well below the grade that would be required to develop a mine."The provisional assay results of Sirius's initial drill hole on its fully-owned Dakota Salts project revealed that the potash mineralisation is in the form of both sylvite and carnallite, which is similar to Esterhazy Member type mineralisation seen in the Saskatchewan Prairie Evaporite Formation."Sirius is now working with its technical team to properly analyse and interpret these results to plan the next phase of our ongoing exploration activities in North Dakota," said Chris Fraser, managing director of Sirius.