Nearly 300 people attended one of the largest Chamber of Commerce Luncheons ever on Thursday to hear about the latest developments in BHP Billiton's potash explorations in the area.
Chris Ryder, BHP's vice president of external affairs, opened with a warning not to expect any major announcements from the presentation. Rumors about BHP sinking shafts or buying up property are untrue, he said.
"What's true is we're working very hard to explore here, to prove that the resource here is as good as we expect it to be."
After Ryder provided an overview of BHP Billiton's corporate structure and its global mining operations, Senior Manager of Land and Exploration John Kilroe took over the podium to give details on the current status of explorations in the Melville/Yorkton area.
The company is not yet in a position to be making any major decisions about a mine in the area, said Kilroe, but all results to date have been encouraging.
While the Melville project is currently in the earliest stage of progress amongst BHP's Saskatchewan sites-Jansen, Young, Boulder, and Melville-the senior manager said that further positive results should cause it to "jump ahead" of Young and Boulder to become the company's "second main" project in the province alongside Jansen, which is already in an advanced stage.
So far, BHP has completed its 2D seismic surveys of the Melville area and one of two planned 3D seismic surveys. The second 3D survey begins in mid October and should bring about 150 contractors to the region, all of them staying in Yorkton throughout the winter.
Core drilling operations commenced in July, but wet weather this summer put the work behind schedule.
So far, three test holes have been completed instead of the nine to ten required to give a "good idea" of the resources available for extraction. Kilroe said he expects progress to reach that point within the next two months. Fifty to 70 holes are planned in total.
The company currently has one drill at work in the region. A second should arrive within the next few weeks.
To date, BHP has spent $35 million on the Melville project and anticipates spending another $70 million within the next 12 months.
A production decision remains a long way off, but the Melville site continues to be among the most promising of the company's extensive Saskatchewan holdings.
"Our intention is to bring multiple operations to production for the benefit of Saskatchewan," said Kilroe.
