By Nick Worth Passport Potash officials announced they have entered into a joint exploration agreement with HNZ Potash, LLC, an affiliate of Hunt Consolidated, Inc., a part of the Hunt family of companies. The agreement allows Passport and HNZ to jointly explore and potentially develop 21 permitted parcels in which Passport holds Arizona State Land Department exploration permits, and which are located on private property held by HNZ on the southernmost area of Passport’s land holdings. The two companies had announced a letter of intent in October 2011 in which Passport was poised to buy a 50 percent interest in HNZ. In that proposal, Passport and HNZ would then have jointly owned over 200,000 acres of mineral rights in the Holbrook Basin covering approximately 300 square miles. That deal, however, did not go through. Passport spokesman Ken Bond said the company will not be purchasing an interest in HNZ under this new-est agreement. In this latest version HNZ will pay 50 percent of expenses previously incurred by Passport on the permit property and in return, Passport will assign a 50 percent interest in the permit property to HNZ. The purpose of the agreement is to conduct exploration and evaluate the potential for mining the property. If the exploration results justify it, the two companies can then form an entity to seek a mining lease to jointly mine the property. “That would be a different agreement,” said Bond. “This agreement is only to facilitate the cooperation be-tween the two companies as far as the exploration of those 21 sections of land outlined in the agreement.” Other provisions of the agreement include: * The two companies will share existing data from their explorations in the Holbrook Basin. * The companies will provide vehicular access to each other across the existing roads on the permit prop-erty. * The two companies have established an area of mutual interest, and have agreed to jointly pursue opportu-nities within this area. “Basically it’s the first relationship we’ve finalized,” said Bond. “If I were to put it in dating terms, it’s a first date.” In a press release, Passport President and CEO Joshua Bleak said, “We look forward to the opportunity to jointly explore these properties with HNZ Potash. “We anticipate a long and productive relationship with HNZ, and see this as a positive step for both compa-nies and the development of potash resources in the Holbrook Basin,” Bleak said.