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Potash One has assembled a world-class Solution Mining Leadership Team and a Process Leadership Team to ensure the best available technology and expertise are applied to the project, resulting in less risk, lower capital costs and optimizing operating costs.
Solution Mining Leadership Team
| | | Max Ramey, PE Position: VP, Solution Mining
Potash One's Solution Mining Team is led by Mr. Max Ramey, a registered professional engineer with over 23 years experience in the solution mining industry. Before joining Potash One, Mr. Ramey held the position of Principal Advisor at Rio Tinto, where he was responsible for providing engineering, permitting, drilling, and operations support for Potasio Rio Colorado potash solution mining project in the Mendoza Province of Argentina.
Mr. Ramey's solution mining experience started in 1985, with Pennzoil Sulphur Company. From 1985 to 1997, Mr. Ramey occupied progressive positions at the Culberson Frasch sulphur mine and was Operations Manager from 1995 -- 1997.
In 1997, Mr. Ramey joined American Soda, LLP. as the Manager of Mining Operations. At American Soda, Max participated in the green field development of a 1.5 million ton per year sodium bi-carbonate solution mining operation located in western Colorado. He was responsible for the resource confirmation drilling, the solution mining pilot program, the well and wellfield design, the commercial wellfield drilling program, and ultimately managed the American Soda commercial solution mining start up and operation.
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| | | Doug Ruse, P.Eng. P.Geo
Cavern Engineering
Mr. Ruse is a leading expert in solution mining with 40+ years of solution mining and waste disposal well and solution mining cavern design experience including pioneering Canadian potash solution mining techniques.
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| | | Michael Hardy, Ph.D, PE
Agapito Associates
Dr. Hardy is a leading expert in the geology and geo-mechanical design of solution mining caverns. Dr. Hardy has extensive experience in designing solution mining caverns in salt, potash, trona, and nahcolite. Dr. Hardy is a co-author of Potash One's 2007 NI 43-101 Technical Report and will continue his role with Potash One on the Solution Mining Leadership Team.
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| | | Norbert Grueschow
NG Consulting
Based in Germany, Mr. Grueschow is a leading expert in potash solution mining and brine processing. Mr. Grueschow has extensive experience in dissolution kinetics of rock salt, sylvinite, carnallite and trona and dissolution modeling. Mr. Grueschow will model the dissolution kinetics of the Legacy potash resource facilitating the estimation of optimum cavern temperature and subsequent cavern production rates.
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| | | Steve Halabura, P.Geo
North Rim Exploration Ltd.
Mr. Halabura is a leading expert in the geology of the Saskatchewan Prairie Evaporite Formation and has 20+ years of potash geology experience and provides on-going geological oversight and consulting to the team. Mr. Halabura is also a co-author of Potash One's 2007 NI 43-101 Technical Report and will continue his role with Potash One on the Solution Mining Leadership Team.
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Processing Leadership Team
Potash One assembled a world-class Process Leadership Team to provide the basic design of the evaporation / crystallization potash production process and select specific technologies.
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| | | Mike Ferguson, P.Eng Position: VP, Projects
Mike Ferguson is a professional engineer and senior project manager with significant experience in the Saskatchewan Uranium and Potash industries. Mr. Ferguson's potash experience started in 1984 working in an underground potash mining operation, continuing through maintenance engineering work in a potash mill and on to engineering design and project delivery. He has worked for all the major potash producers in Saskatchewan including Mosaic, Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan and Agrium. Mr. Ferguson also led projects overseas in the Middle East and south-east Asia.
Most recently Mr. Ferguson served as a General Manager for Wardrop Engineering, and Operations Manager with AMEC prior to that. He earned his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan and Graduate Certificate in Project Management from Pennsylvania State University.
Consisting of respected experts in the field, the Process Leadership Team is led by Mike Ferguson in conjunction with local experts which include:
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| | | Carlos Perucca, P.Eng.
Process Consultant
Mr. Perucca has 15+ years of experience in potash processing, including early work at the Potasio Rio Colorado project in Argentina in the 1990's. (now owned and being developed by Rio Tinto). In Argentina, Carlos participated in the original solution mining pilot test, solar evaporation pond and process engineering designs. Since that time, Carlos has been involved in process design at most Saskatchewan potash producing properties, including extensive work in the modifications of the existing crystallization circuits in the various Saskatchewan mills. Carlos will perform the overall process plant modeling and create the mass and energy balances for Legacy.
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| | | James Majors
Swenson Technology, Inc.
Swenson Technology and its licensees worldwide have the most experience of any company in the design of evaporators and crystallizers used in the production of potash from solution mining. Swenson technology has not only been part of potash processing but also has set the standard for evaporation equipment in Saskatchewan from the beginning of the industry there. Most operations utilize Swenson technology in evaporation and crystallization, with installations at Mosaic Belle Plaine and PCS Cory. Swenson's background in the design of crystallization equipment for an extensive array of industrial applications is unrivaled. Swenson will play a key role in process design as the evaporation-crystallization process for Potash One's Legacy Project is defined.
Both Leadership Teams are developing basic designs and generating fundamental deliverables such as trade-off study documents, design criteria, mass and energy balances, flowsheets (process flow diagrams or PFDs), process descriptions and scope of work for on-going, along with more detailed engineering work. It is expected that these deliverables will be available in December 2008 and will provide a design basis for engineering work resulting in a pre-feasibility study report.
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