The Government of Saskatchewan’s Subsurface Mineral Crown Disposition Public Offering, held on Monday, raised $169,878 in revenue for the province.
This is the first subsurface mineral offering of the 2020-21 fiscal year.
Eighty-one subsurface mineral permit blocks totalling 141,640.79 hectares were posted. Out of the 81 blocks posted, 16 received bonus bids and consisted of 51,917.960 hectares.
Sun Valley Land Ltd. picked up nine permit blocks totalling 36,769.377 hectares for $101,300; Deep Earth Energy Production Corporation picked up three permit blocks totalling 3,462.289 hectares for $55,000; and Prairie Lithium Corporation picked up four permit blocks totalling 11,686.294 hectares for $13,578.00.
The highest bid received in this offering was $30,000 from Sun Valley Land Ltd. This 1,656.780-hectare permit block is located 18 kilometres southwest of Estevan and is prospective for minerals, such as lithium.
The subsurface mineral public offering uses a transparent and competitive bidding system to issue subsurface mineral dispositions that grant the holder exploration and development rights for potash and natural mineral salts occurring more than 60 metres below the land surface. These include boron, calcium, lithium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, bromine, chlorine, fluorine, iodine, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur and their compounds.
As the appeal for lithium is increasing in the global market, the province has seen a significant interest in Saskatchewan’s lithium potential.
The next scheduled date for a subsurface mineral public offering in Saskatchewan is Dec. 14.
