This week, China’s state-owned China Development Bank (CDB) was reported to have frozen loan funds to Slavkaliy Co., the Russian billionaire Mikhail Gutseriev-majority owned company developing the Nezhinsky potash mining and processing project in eastern Belarus, according to a report this week by Belarus pro-democracy and a pro-human rights news site, Charter 97, citing finanz.ru.
Gutseriev was included in both the E.U. and U.S. expanded sanctions imposed in June and August, respectively (GM Aug. 13, p. 1; June 25, p. 1). The situation is further complicated by Belarusbank, which acts as the credit operator through which the Chinese funds are transferred to Slavkaliy Co., also being under sanctions by the E.U.
CDB and Belarusbank agreed a $1.4 billion credit agreement with Slavkaliy Co. for the Nezhinsky project in 2016 for a 14-year period (GM June 24, 2016). According to the Charter 97 report, CDB has “frozen” $580 million of funding, including a $103 million tranche that had been due to be provided this summer.
According to the report, developers owed money are starting to leave the construction site, but this could not be verified by press time.
Some 2 million mt/y of potassium chloride capacity is planned at Nezhinsky, with plans for the production of both white and pink potash, as well as granular grades.
Nezhinsky was reported to have produced its first ton of rock salt in April 2020, and last summer, Slavkaliy Co. was said to be targeting the completion of construction and commissioning of the processing plant in fourth-quarter 2023 (GM July 2, 2020).