TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The world’s largest potash and crop nutrient producer Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (PotashCorp) on Monday said that it had appointed former Inmet Mining chief Jochen Tilk as its new president and CEO, effective July 1, to take the reins from outgoing Bill Doyle.

After a stint of 27 years at the helm of the company, Doyle would step down as president and CEO, but remain employed with the company as a senior adviser until June 2015.

"Jochen is known for his focus on operational excellence and disciplined growth, and the entire board agreed he was the right person to lead the company forward,” said chairperson Dallas Howe.

He noted that the board undertook a rigorous, three-year selection process for the new CEO that included using international executive search firms and a review of internal and external candidates.

"Jochen's successful track record, his reputation among peers and commitment to the industry made him the ideal candidate to serve our customers and lead PotashCorp through our next phase of growth,” Doyle added.

Tilk comes to PotashCorp after a 30-year career in the mining industry, most recently serving as president and CEO of Inmet Mining, until First Quantum Minerals bought Inmet for $4.7-billion in November 2012. He was influential in helping grow Inmet’s market capitalisation by 5 000% and is highly regarded by industry colleagues, employees and customers. PotashCorp said that similarly, it was now looking forward to its next phase of growth.

PotashCorp in October said the unexpected July unravelling of the world's largest potash cartel, the Belarus Potash Company (BPC), had resulted in a “predictable”, extremely cautious market during the three months ended September 30, that had chipped away at its third-quarter profit.

The break-up of the BPC, a joint venture between Russia's Uralkali and Belarussian partner Belaruskali, left North America's Canpotex, comprising of PotashCorp, Agrium and Mosaic, as the dominant potash export venture.

However, this did not help to boost profits and PotashCorp reported a 45% drop in third-quarter profit to $356-million, or $0.41 a share, down from $645-million, or $0.74 a share, mainly as a result of weaker prices for all three of its crop nutrients and lower potash sales volumes.

PotashCorp said that despite the need for proper crop nutrition fuelling strong demand for potash through the first half of 2013, the change in strategy by Uralkali in late July created considerable market uncertainty and stalled global demand.

Critical offshore markets – particularly large contract buyers in China and India – delayed potash purchases or were reluctant to accept significant tonnage against existing contracts. Despite Brazil continuing to be a region of relative strength, with buyers procuring tonnes in preparation for their upcoming planting season, offshore shipments from North American producers fell to one of the lowest third-quarter totals in recent history.