JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Melbourne-registered Davenport Resources has signed an agreement with a German government agency to buy three potash mining licences in the South Harz region for €1.2-million.
Davenport, which is listed on the ASX, will acquire the licences from Bodenverwertungs-und-verwaltungs – the agency charged with divesting former German Democratic Republic (GDR) assets.
The three licences – Mühlhausen-Nohra, Ebeleben and Ohmgebirge – are perpetual mining licences granted under the former GDR system and are not subject to expiry, rent, royalties or reporting requirements of the current German tenure. However, they are subject to environmental laws and mine development regulations.
Davenport MD Chris Bain said that the acquisition of the three licences extended the company’s landholding on the basin to more than 650 km2.
“Up until the reunification of Germany in the early 1990s, more than 180-million tonnes of potash was produced from mines in the South Harz region, making it a globally significant source of the commodity,” Bain commented in a statement.
The Mühlhausen-Nohra licence adjoins Davenport’s existing Küllstedt licence and will be the company’s immediate priority.
Ebeleben covers the sylvinite area extending north-east from the company’s Gräfentonna licence toward the now closed Volkenroda mine, while Ohmgebirge is a small licence to the north of Küllstedt.