VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – German-held chemicals firm K+S Potash Canada has last weekend produced the first tonnes of marketable potash at its new $4.6-billion Bethune mine, in Saskatchewan.
The company reached the milestone ahead of schedule, and is now focused on building up to its annual production capacity of two-million tonnes a year by the end of 2017.
"This is a great day for our company. With Bethune, the most modern potash facility in the world, we are pushing into a new dimension. We are now producing potash on two continents," L+S chairperson Dr Burkhard Lohr commented in a statement early this week.
K+S plans to produce 600 000 t to 700 000 t of potash from Bethune this year.
The first potash transport from Bethune to the new harbour terminal at Vancouver is scheduled to leave during August, from where the potash will be shipped to clients around the world.
Global potash shipments finished strong in 2016 and the momentum has carried forward into 2017, which has maintained relatively low supply availability. Global potash production rates have increased and further capacity additions are expected in 2017, which could lead buyers to be cautious following the spring application season.