water source approval is a huge catalyst
Western Potash shareholders were well rewarded with today's water source approval news.
IC Potash will also be confirming the availability of water supply which will further de-risk the project.
The total water demand for the IC Potash project is expected to be approximately 2,000 gallons per minute. Of the total supply required for the project, approximately 73% of the total supply (or 1,460 gpm) will be used for ore processing and 27% of the total supply (or 540 gallons per minute) will be treated to drinking water standards and provided to the plant facilities building.
ICP intends to use a desalination system to treat the brackish water obtained from the Capitan Reef. A preliminary design for the desalination system has been developed. The reverse osmosis (RO) water treatment system was designed assuming the Capitan Reef well water contains Total Dissolved Solids of 10,000 parts per million and is close to calcium sulfate saturation. The preliminary system includes a design feed rate of 4,000 gallons per minute (a high, conservative estimate) and will operate at a recovery rate estimated to be greater than 90% to provide at least 3,600 gallons per minute of purified water containing less than 250 parts per million of Total Dissolved Solids. The primary system consists of three skids, each providing 1,000 gallons per minute of low- Total Dissolved Solids source water. The secondary system includes an interstage precipitation reactor and will treat the concentrate stream from the primary system to recover an additional 750 gallons per minute of low- Total Dissolved Solids water, resulting in a final concentrated stream of only 250 gallon per minute. The membrane skids, interstage precipitation reactor, and associated pumps, tanks, motor control center (MCC) room, and cleaning skid will require a building approximately 125 feet long and 70 feet wide. The total power requirement for the entire system is approximately 2,000 kilowatts.