Intrepid Potash, Inc. Announces the Successful Completion of Two Drilling Projects At Its Moab Solar Solution Potash Mine
July 10, 2023 at 07:00 am EDT
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Intrepid Potash, Inc. announced the successful completion of the Well 45 and Well 46 drilling projects at its solar solution potash mine in Moab, Utah. This is the second update on Intrepid's major capital projects included in its 2023 capital program. Both projects will help deliver on key goals of maximizing brine availability and underground brine residence time, which is expected to lead to improved brine grade and higher and more consistent production.
Well 45 is a newly designed, single-well cavern system with three interlocking laterals that targets new ore in Potash Bed 9. This single-well cavern is designed to have a long operational life with the laterals completed over approximately 18,000-feet of horizontal drilling. The company has commenced the initial phase of cavern development and brine measurements have shown good availability of high-grade ore. After cavern development, company will switch to injecting salt-saturated brine and begin selective solution mining.
Due to the nature of solution mining and the residence time required to selectively mine potash, company expect to see the benefit of Well 45 beginning in the 2024 evaporation season. The total capital cost was approximately $11.5 million, approximately 40% lower compared to previous two-well cavern systems. Well 46 is a horizontal drilling project designed to target a high-grade brine pool ("sump") in the original mine workings in Potash Bed 5, which was previously accessed by a nearly 50-year-old well that was plugged-and-abandoned. Well 46 serves three key purposes: first, contribute to 2023 potash production when harvest begins in the third quarter; second, create medium to longer-term, reliable wellbore access to drill additional laterals to target unmined ore in Potash Bed 5 or access other stranded brine pools; and third, serve as a backup for other injection/extraction wells.
Intrepid Potash, Inc. is a diversified mineral company that delivers potassium, magnesium, sulfur, salt, and water products for customers in agriculture, animal feed and the oil and gas industry. Its segments include potash, Trio, and oilfield solutions. Its three primary products are potash, Trio, and water. It also sells salt, magnesium chloride, metal recovery salts, brines, and water that are derived as part of its mining processes. It sells potash into three primary markets: the agricultural market as a fertilizer input, the industrial market as a component in drilling and fracturing fluids for oil and gas wells and an input to other industrial processes, and the animal feed market as a nutrient supplement. Trio is its specialty fertilizer that delivers potassium, sulfate, and magnesium in a single particle. It sells water primarily for industrial uses in the oil and gas services industry. Its other oilfield related offerings include caliche, right-of-way agreements, and others.