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Our
Expertise . . . |
Fertilizer Mineral Projects
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ISX Resources, Inc.,
Saskatchewan, Canada
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Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc.,
Florida, USA
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Intrepid Mining Company, Utah,
USA
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Mississippi Chemical Inc./Intrepid New Mexico,
New Mexico, USA
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Rio Tinto, Argentina
ISX Resources,
Inc., Subsurface Mineral Permit, Saskatchewan, Canada
AAI completed a NI 43-101 compliant Technical Report concerning the
potash resources contained in the Subsurface Mineral Permit KP 289 in the
Findlater area in southern Saskatchewan Canada. The permit area is
immediately north of the Mosaic Belle Plaine potash solution mining
operation and contains similar quality potash beds as that successfully
solution mined by Mosaic and its predecessors for over 30 years. ISX
proposes a confirmation drilling and testing program to confirm the potash
resource to support a 2-million-tons-per-year potash operation. AAI was
selected to complete the study with Mike Hardy, President, as a designated
Qualified Person because of his experience in potash solution mining,
solution mining of similar minerals, and independence from the project.
The permit area covers
approximately 97,000 acres and is intersected by six core holes.
Historically two pilot tests were conducted on the property in the 1960s at
the same time that Mosaic was developing the technology for solution mining
the deep potash beds in southern Saskatchewan. The property has been
surveyed using 2D seismic and is estimated to contain recoverable K2O of
over 10,000 tonnes per acre using demonstrated solution mining methods.
Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., Apatit Fertilizers Mining Complex Technical Audit, FL
AAI conducted the mining section of a technical audit of the Apatit
phosphorite mining operations located at Kirovsk and Apatity, Kola
Peninsula, Russia. The objective of the study was the assessment of the
technical status and capabilities of the underground and open pit mining
operations providing feed to concentrating and chemical processing
facilities. The mines included two underground and two open pit operations
situated north of the Arctic Circle.
Two of the four mines were comprised of
consolidations of smaller underground and open pit mines. The underground
mining operations were recovering reserves beneath and adjacent to open pit
operations that are exhausting the strippable reserves.
Underground mining methods practiced at
both underground mines include mass blast stopes and sublevel caving, both
of which ultimately draw cave fill from surface.
Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., Roca
Fosforica Mexicaná San Juan de la Costa Basic Mine Engineering, FL
AAI conducted basic mine engineering studies for the San Juan de la
Costa Mine to assess the viability of expanding production from an
underground phosphorite mine. The study was preceded by reviews of previous
work, site investigations, mine inspections, and data gathering. Basic
engineering included consideration of alternate mining methods,
recommendation of a selected method, description of the recommended scheme,
and detailed definition and specification of the components for the mining
system.
The process included simulation of a
mechanized room-and-pillar mining system supported with belt conveyor
haulage for mine development and production.
Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., Spur
Ventures, Inc., Yichang Phosphate Evaluations, FL
AAI has provided mining engineering services for the proposed
development of phosphate resources in central China. The project included
site visits to inspect existing small-scale mining operations, review of
existing data, selection of pertinent information, and preparation of a
conceptual report outlining subsequent study proposals on development of a
detailed mine feasibility study.
The conceptual report included a review
of mining methods and recommendation of the preferred method for subsequent
studies and analyses.
A feasibility mine plan and cost
estimate were developed based on Jacobs developed resource and ore reserve
models to provide detailed mine plans including ventilation, operating schedules, equipment and
manpower schedules, and estimates of capital and operating costs for mine
development and production.
Intrepid Mining Company, Cane Creek
Mine, Moab, Utah, USA
AAI has supported Intrepid Potash, Cane Creek operations since
Intrepid purchased the Moab potash solution mining operation from TG Potash
in 2000. Solution mining by flooding existing room-and-pillar workings in
Bed 5 was initiated in 1970. AAI participated in the technical evaluation of
resource recovery utilizing long, horizontal solution caverns developed by
horizontal drilling in Bed 9, some 800 ft below Bed 5. Engineering
contributions include estimation of cavern heat loss, evaluation of
hydraulic fracture gradients surrounding deep caverns, assessment of cavern
stability, permitting support, and generation of resource maps.
Subsequently, geologically constrained, horizontal directional drilling of
deep wells in Bed 9 was supervised on-site by AAI geological personnel.
In 2004 and again in 2007, AAI has reviewed the resource data and mining
history in developing an independent assessment of the resource and reserves
at Cane Creek for long-term financing of the operations.
Mississippi
Chemical, Inc./Intrepid New Mexico, Mississippi Potash Inc. Reserve
Evaluation, Carlsbad, New Mexico, USA
An independent confirmation of sylvinite and langbeinite reserves
held by Mississippi Potash, Inc., in Eddy and Lea Counties, New Mexico, was
conducted by AAI for parent company Mississippi Chemical, Inc. As part of
the reserve confirmation, AAI visited the Mississippi West Mine to assess
underground operations and gathered drill hole, geologic, lease, and assay
data. Proven and probable mineable reserves were determined for four
separate beds. Reserve criteria included ore grade, thickness, proximity to
sample location, accessibility, sterilization by existing mining, and
dilution resulting from mixed ores. Local mining methods and historical
extraction ratios were considered in the final evaluation of recoverable
tons within the reserve. Production methods included continuous miner mining
and solution mining of existing workings. Forecasts of plant operating life
followed from the reserve evaluation.
The process of reviewing the New Mexico resource and reserve estimates for
these potash deposits has continued for Intrepid New Mexico who purchased
the operations from Mississippi Chemical in 2004.
Rio Tinto, Rio
Colorado Solution Mining Project, Argentina
AAI has completed studies leading to pre-feasibility level mine
plans for solution mining the Potasio Rio Colorado potash deposits in
Mendoza Provence, Argentina. These deposits have long been known and were
drilled in the late 1980s, early 1990s, and again in 2005. A pilot test was
conducted in the early 1990s and again after Rio Tinto acquired the property
in 2004. AAI has supported Rio Tinto’s evaluation of the property assisting
in development and evaluation of the pilot test, completing
thermo-mechanical tests on core, evaluating cavern and pillar dimensions,
and designing the well-field layout. In addition, AAI has completed
assessments of potential subsidence to support permitting efforts and
participated in management evaluations of the property serving as the
in-house expert on solution mining. Recently, AAI was asked to certify the
resource and reserve estimates as a Competent Person per the requirements of
the JORQ code.
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AGAPITO
ASSOCIATES, INC.