Encanto (TSX.V:EPO) is also on that potential buy-out list.[/red] Encanto is a well-run potash junior with resource grades that compare favourably to Athabasca. They have similar thickness and grade – while EPO has market cap of $23 million – about one tenth of the API valuation. So EPO has lot of share price upside as they build up their resource with more drilling and 3D seismic.
EPO’s first drill hole at its Muskowekwan potash property in Saskatchewan returned values of 25.2% K2O (39.9% KCl) over 3.6 metres in the Patience Lake potash bed, and 25.5% K2O (40.4% KCl) over 2.4 metres in the Belle Plaine potash bed. Drilling in the lower Esterhazy Member returned values of 5.3 metres of 12.4% K2O (19.6% KCl).
The size of Encanto’s land package is 36000 acres and the two beds combined are 6 m thick. That’s a potential mineable resource of about 137 M tonnes of K2O or 217 M tonnes of KCL. About $200 billion worth of potash.
Not surprisingly – given all this activity – a UBS analyst upgraded shares of POT from “Neutral” from “Buy” and increased the price target by $6 to $112 – implying stock gains of about 20% in the next year. Potash Corp shares rose 3% percent on the news.
But big trees don’t grow as fast as little trees. Keep your eye on Western and Encanto as the potash sector heats up again |