Sirius Minerals plc’s plans to complete its North Yorkshire polyhalite mine and processing plant in northeast England have been thrown into doubt today after the company suspended a proposed US$500 million bond offer, citing current market conditions.

The company said it intends to revisit the market when conditions have improved later this quarter. It had launched the bond on July 19.

Sirius Minerals needs to complete the full US$500 million bond sale before Oct. 30, 2019 to unlock a US$2.5 billion revolving credit facility from JP Morgan, as part of its ambitious US$3.8 billion stage 2 financing requirement to complete its polyhalite project.

However, Bloomberg cited Liberum Capital Markets analyst, Richard Knights, one of Sirius’ corporate brokers, as reminding that Sirius still has effectively two months to get the bond done.

Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL), Tel Aviv, reported second-quarter net income attributable to shareholders of $158 million ($0.12 per diluted share) on sales of $1.43 billion, against a year-ago $101 million ($0.08 per diluted share) and $1.37 billion, respectively.

However, net income adjusted for non-recurring items, came in at $151 million ($0.12 per diluted share) versus the year-earlier $113 million ($0.09 per diluted share).

The adjusted earnings per share beat the average analyst estimate of $0.10, Bloomberg reported (range $0.09 to $0.12, Bloomberg data).

Adjusted EBITDA increased 15 percent over the prior-year, to $340 million, up from $296 million.

Sales were up 4 percent year-on-year.

The company attributed the increase in adjusted net income to increased selling prices of potash, phosphate fertilizers, phosphate-based acids, salts and food additives, together with a positive price impact throughout most of the Industrial Products division’s business lines. Higher sales volumes in the Potash division also contributed.

The Tampa ammonia price for August has rolled over at $215/mt CFR.

K+S Group, Kassel, said today it will extend the maintenance period planned for September at its Bethune potash plant in Saskatchewan to a total of two weeks. During this time, it said the existing facilities will be supplemented by further components for screening and cooling the products.

“We have a clear agenda for aligning the quality of our products even more closely with our customers’ expectations by the end of 2019. At the same time, we will continue with our goal of further increasing production,” said K+S’ Europe+ operating unit CEO, Alexa Hergenröther.

K+S earlier put the 2019 production target at Bethune at 1.7 to 1.9 million mt. However, it said due to the additional work now being planned to improve product quality, it currently is expecting the lower end of this range to be reached.

A Syrian freight train carrying phosphate derailed and caught fire in central Syria on July 21 after it was hit by explosives planted on the tracks by militants, according to an Associated Press News (AP) report citing the country’s Transport Ministry.

The government-owned train was transporting phosphate from mines in Khunayfis in Homs province, and early reports suggest there were no casualties. The ministry said work to repair the railway and restore traffic is underway.

Russian energy company, Stroytransgaz, has operated Syria’s Khunayfis and Sharqiya phosphate mines, located south of Palmyra, since early 2018 under a 50-year contract agreed with the Syrian government in 2017. Under the contract, the Russian company is entitled to 70 percent of the revenue. Since March this year, the Russian company also has been in charge of the country’s fertilizer production complex at Homs.

K+S Group, Kassel, has commissioned a new plant at its Wintershall site at the Werra plant, Germany, producing magnesium sulfate anhydrous. The product is a specialty fertilizer used in fertigation and as a granulation aid for compound fertilizers, as well as for uses in the pulp industry, among others, the company said in a statement.

K+S has invested about €34 million in the new facility. It expands the company’s production capacity of magnesium sulfate anhydrous by more than 50 percent – to “a low six-digit amount” of mt/y, according to Bloomberg.

The new plant will also produce the animal feed product KaSa Mag 98.