Operations at ICL UK’s Boulby potash mine in Northeast England have been suspended today after a fire broke out underground early this morning. Emergency services were called to the scene and the mine’s rescue team was deployed to tackle the incident.

ICL UK said the fire has now been extinguished and all workers in the mine at the time of incident were located and brought to the surface. Seven workers affected by smoke were taken to hospital for checks but a spokesperson for the company said all seven have since been discharged. ICL UK said HM Inspectorate of Mines are at the mine and the company will be working with them to carry out a full investigation into the incident. According to local media reports, polystyrene blocks, which are meant to be a fire retardant, are believed to have caught fire in the mine.

CHS Inc. reported a net loss of $31.0 million for the second quarter ending Feb. 29, 2016, compared with the year-ago earnings of $92.8 million. Results for the quarter were attributed to the current down cycle in the company’s agricultural and energy businesses. Revenues for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 were $6.7 billion, down 20 percent compared with $8.4 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2015.

CHS Inc. has reported net income of $235.5 million for the first six months ending Feb. 29, 2016, down from the year-ago $471.5 million. Revenues through Feb. 29, 2016, were $14.4 billion, down nearly 20 percent from $17.9 billion for first half of fiscal 2015, and primarily reflected lower selling prices for the energy, grain and fertilizer products the company handles.

“Like others in our energy and agricultural space, CHS is experiencing the earnings impact of depressed global prices and reduced demand for refined fuels, grain and fertilizer,” said CHS President and CEO Carl Casale. “We’ve experienced these types of cycles throughout our more than 85-year history and will navigate this period by finding ways to run our businesses more efficiently and effectively while continuing to serve our owners’ and customers’ needs.”

Year-over-year earnings also declined within the CHS Ag segment, which includes the company’s crop nutrients, renewable fuels, Country Operations retail, animal nutrition and sunflower processing; grain marketing, and processing and food ingredients businesses. Lower earnings in this segment were largely attributed to soft market conditions across the agricultural sectors CHS serves. Lower margins affected earnings within the crop nutrients, Country Operations retail and grain marketing businesses. In the renewable fuels business, earnings declined primarily due to lower market prices. CHS processing and food ingredients earnings decreased primarily due to a non-cash impairment charge on assets held for sale.

With one month of operation in fiscal 2016, CHS generated income before taxes in its newly established Nitrogen Production segment of $1.3 million, resulting from its February 2016 equity method investment of $2.8 billion in CF Industries Nitrogen LLC.

Tampa contract sulfur prices for the second-quarter 2016 dropped to $70/lt, $25/lt below the first-quarter’s $95/lt. Both major buyers have concluded contracts at the lower number.

Yara International ASA said April 11 that it will invest approximately US$275 million in expanding and modernizing its Rio Grande plant, which is strategically located in southern Brazil, a key region in the country’s growing agricultural industry. Set for completion in 2020, the investment will create one of the biggest and most modern fertilizer sites in the Americas. “This expansion represents another step in our Brazil growth strategy, further establishing our position in Brazil as a long-term industry player, committed to developing and investing in Brazilian agribusiness,” said Svein Tore Holsether, Yara president and CEO.

“The project is possible thanks to the acquisition of Bunge Fertilizantes in 2013, creating further consolidation synergies through optimization, automation and de-bottlenecking of the combined assets,” said Svein Tore Holsether. The expansion project will double the site’s current 800,000 mt annual fertilizer production and blending capacity, and provide customers with increased access to Yara’s premium products, thereby reducing reliance on finished fertilizer imports. It will also improve health, environment, safety and quality performance, including substantially lower emissions than required by legislation. The scope includes new warehouses, new acidulation and granulation lines, fully automated blending and bagging equipment for small (50 kg) and big (1 mt) bags, a boiler for steam production, a wastewater treatment plant and rest areas for truck drivers. The plant already operates its own recently modernized and expanded pier, which is connected to the railway network and the industrial complex. The facility is expected to create over a thousand direct and a further three to four thousand indirect employment opportunities, boosting the region’s economy. The investment follows approximately US1.5 billion of expansions and acquisitions carried out by Yara in Brazil in recent years, including the Bunge (2013) and Galvani (2014) acquisitions and the recent construction of modern blending and bagging terminals in Sumaré and Porto Alegre.

Due to the decrease in capacity rates and planned maintenance operations at Belaruskali’s Production Unit 3 in February, Belarusian Potash Co. (BPC) said its export sales have declined by 0.5 million mt in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the same period in 2015. “Overall, considering changes in the market environment, BPC displayed a disciplined approach towards export sales in the first quarter, maintaining the balance and reacting flexibly to the demand changes,” the company said.

Terra Nitrogen Company LP reports that all ammonia and UAN units at its Verdigris, Okla., manufacturing facility are operating. The company had announced on Feb. 17, 2016, that it experienced an unscheduled outage for maintenance on one of the facility’s two ammonia plants, resulting in approximately one-half of the complex being shut down. The company completed the maintenance, and subsequently restarted the affected ammonia plant on March 17, 2016.