Potash company partners with Hopi Tribe

Passport Potash announced that has signed a letter of intent (“LOI”) with the Hopi Indian Tribe. [Right, Passport holdings in green,  Hopi lands in pink.Credit, Passport Potash] According to the company:

The LOI, which is non-binding, is an outgrowth of the access and information sharing agreement signed between the parties in March 2011, and authorizes the engineering firm, ERCOSPLAN, to combine the Hopi and Passport land sections in the upcoming Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) commissioned by Passport, and lays the groundwork for potential joint exploration and development of the potash resources in the Holbrook Basin.

The LOI further witnesses the intent of the parties to jointly explore the contiguous land sections to determine their combined economic potential.  The exploration program will be based upon recommendations from ERCOSPLAN and purposed to maximize the potential resource on the combined properties.

The parties also intend, based on the geologic findings on the properties, to proceed towards negotiating a definitive mining development agreement (“MDA”) between the parties, and further agree to conduct the MDA negotiations in good faith with an understanding that time is of the essence.

The inclusion of the private properties owned by the Hopi tribe in the PEA will necessitate delaying the release of the PEA for 60 to 90 days to allow ERCOSPLAN to incorporate the Hopi data.  The PEA will be addressed to and owned by both PPI and the Tribe, who shall each be entitled to use and rely on the PEA for both their joint and individual purposes.