Globex Mining drops Cape Breton potash exploration project
A Canadian mining company has dropped its interest in a potash exploration project in the Kempt Head area of Cape Breton.
Globex Mining Enterprises CEO Jack Stoch said the low price of potash affected the company's decision, pushing the project down its priority list.
The price of the fertilizer ingredient has been in the $200-$300 per tonne range since dropping from about $900 per tonne in 2008.
'Results were OK'
"We did a bit of laboratory work on the core from the library and the results were OK. It's just you have to set priorities, and what's happened is that the prices of potash have gone down and we have a huge number of projects. We had to make some tough choices," Stoch said.
In April 2015, Globex announced it had received the rights to explore about 4,000 hectares of land near Kempt Head, on the southwest part of Boularderie Island.
The Nova Scotia Department of Mines and Energy discovered the potash reserves in 1984.
Unlikely to revive the project
Part of the attraction was "the property would have the logistical advantage of direct access by ship to the Atlantic Ocean for delivery of product to market, unlike current production from Western Canada that has additional significant land transportation and handling charges," the company said in a news release at the time.
Globex isn't likely to follow up on potash exploration on Boularderie Island, Stoch said.
"Right now I would say we are not going to return to it. We normally wouldn't have walked away from it. It's just that the price of gold and a number of other projects have become more important to us including in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and Quebec."
Guysborough County looks promising
One of the Nova Scotia sites is in Guysborough County where Globex has staked 40 claims, covering a strike length of 10 kilometres, and is exploring for lithium and gold.
Gold was trading on world markets mid-afternoon Tuesday at $1,340.98 US per ounce. It hit a low of $1,050.80 over the past year.
