Acron Group has extended an option to buy a 10% share tranche in Verkhnekamsk Potash Co. CJSC (VPC), the subsidiary developing the Talitsky potash project in Russia’s Perm region, until April 2024, Interfax reported, citing a statement from the Russian fertilizer group.
Acron said in August that it had extended an option to buy the 10% tranche from banks until February 2024 and had also extended a 19.9% option until December 2023 (GM Sept. 1, p. 26). Acron also has an option to buy a 9.99% stake in VPC until September 2025.
Acron owns a 50% plus one share holding in VPC. Russian banks Sberbank Investments, Otkritie Bank, and VTB Group have stakes worth 29.9%, 10.1%, and 10%, respectively. Acron and the banks have call and put options allowing the fertilizer group to sell and the banks to buy stakes in VPC.
Acron in September said construction of Talitsky’s mine and surface facilities was well underway and confirmed plans to start potash production at Talitsky in 2026 (GM Sept. 22, p. 27). The project, which has been delayed several times, will have an initial production capacity of 2 million mt/y of potassium chloride when fully ramped up.
Acron previously stated that Talitsky will have the potential for further expansion to 2.6 million mt/y. According to this week’s Interfax report, the project cost for the Talitsky mining and processing plant project has now risen to $2.7 billion.