Intrepid Potash Inc. reported a third-quarter net loss of $18.2 million ($0.24 per diluted share) on sales of $43.6 million compared to the year-ago loss of $8.1 million ($0.11 per share) and $53.6 million.
The company said a volume increase of 34 percent was not enough to offset decreased potash prices.
On Oct. 31, 2016, Intrepid announced the completion of its debt negotiations, resulting in amendments to the company’s senior notes as well as a new revolving credit facility which provides up to $35 million in borrowing capacity, subject to a borrowing base limitation.
“The transition of our business model to a lower-cost solar potash and specialty Trio® producer accelerated this quarter with the idling of West in early July and the completion of commissioning at East,” said Bob Jornayvaz, Intrepid’s executive chairman, president and CEO. “During the third quarter, we reached our goal of achieving an annualized Trio® production run rate of double our 2015 production. We continue to focus on expanding our global presence for Trio®, which we believe is a compelling product for chloride-sensitive crops. We are starting to see a more supportive selling environment for potash as pricing has firmed. Moving into 2017, we anticipate seeing some benefit to our potash gross margin as our lower-cost solar facility production becomes a greater proportion of our potash sales.”