Crescent gets Australian potash play

Crescent Resources‘ (CRC-V) move to acquire a massive swath of potash exploration ground in Australia sent the company’s shares up on Thursday.

Crescent is buying the Carnarvon Basin project from Australian Potash Company for roughly $3 million and 30 million of its common shares, to be paid to APC in three tranches over the next two and a half years.

The land packages is made up of 12 licences covering roughly 4,280 sq km of land in Western Australia.

Three widely spaced drill wells drilled in the late 1960’s hit upon intervals of salt layers some of which hosted potash beds.

Highlight intersects included 38 metres thick from a depth of 1,198 metre to 1,268 metres; 17.7 metres thick from 1,234 metres to 1,295 metres; and 5.2 metres thick from 1,140 metres to 1,177 metres.

Crescent is banking on lateral continuity between the three holes which would mean a significant potash deposit exists.

Regional gravity data indicates that the evaporitic horizons may have developed in a sub-basin more than 50-km long and also suggest, Crescent says, that the sub-basin is nested within the much larger complex.

The project sits on the coast of Western Australia, adjacent to the major North West Coastal Highway which Crescent says, can be used to access several ports in the region.

But Crescent also anticipates strong demand within Australia should it bring the deposit into production. That is because the country currently imports all of its potash.

In Toronto on July 30, the Vancouver-based company’s shares were up 84% or 11 to 23 on roughly 3.2 million shares traded.

Its shares have traded between 8 and 52 over the last 52 weeks and it has roughly 31 million shares outstanding.