Kassel, Germany-K+S Ag said Jan. 14 that during assembly work being performed by a contractor in the extraction shaft of the Sigmundshall potash plant, parts of the shaft conveyor equipment were damaged during the New Year break. Nobody was injured. The relevant authorities were informed using K+S’s early warning system. The process of repairing the damage began immediately. K+S said complex and difficult investigations have shown that there will be considerable limitations on production due to the ongoing repair work until early February. Due to the incident, the level of production is expected to decline by about 70,000 mt of potash and magnesium products for this period (equivalent to about one percent of the anticipated annual sales volume of the Potash and Magnesium Products business segment in 2011). As far as possible, the lost production will be made up for by supplies from other sites. However, K+S said there will inevitably be delays in delivery. K+S is examining the extent to which recourse can be taken against the assembly company or its insurers for the damage that has arisen.

Lebanon, Penn.-Lebanon Seaboard Corp. said Jan. 14 that it has acquired the U.S. horticultural and turf division of Plant Health Care, Inc. Established in 1995 in Pittsburgh, Penn., Lebanon said PHC is a pioneer among manufacturers of biologically based products for all segments of the green industry. This includes research applied to fertility products incorporating beneficial microbes, mycorrhizal fungi, and soil nutrients. In addition to the PHC brands that had been marketed through the company’s horticultural and turf division, several PHC executives and sales personnel will join LebanonTurf, the professional division of Lebanon Seaboard, under terms of the agreement. Lebanon says the acquisition reinforces its commitment to the growing field of biological plant nutrition. PHC complements Lebanon’s 2009 acquisition of Novozymes’ turf and landscape business, including the Roots products and technologies, and its 2008 acquisition of the Emerald Isle line of foliar and granular fertilizer products from Milliken Chemical. Terms of the agreement between privately held Lebanon Seaboard, whose LebanonTurf division focuses on the professional turf industry, and PHC, a public company with global headquarters in Pittsburgh, were not disclosed.

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania-Yara International ASA has announced a $20 million investment in a new fertilizer terminal by the port in Dar es Salaam. “This strengthens Yara’s long term commitment to development of Tanzania’s agricultural sector,” said Yara’s CEO Jørgen Haslestad. Yara presently supplies 120,000 mt of fertilizer annually to the region. The new terminal will have a revolving storage capacity of 45,000 mt of fertilizer, which will be sufficient for the medium-term requirement, and the location allows for new capacity to be added for long-term requirements.

Cairo, Egypt-The National Fertilizers Co. and the Egyptian-Kuwaiti Holding Co. (EKH) are planning a LE1.5 billion (U.S.$259 million) fertilizer complex in Sadat City, according to local media reports. The plant would produce 1.5 million mt of various products, including ammonium sulfate, calcium chloride, sulfuric acid, potassium sulfate, single super phosphate, and compound fertilizers. The product would be used locally and exported.

Salt Lake City, Utah-The Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration is putting up, without any guarantees, nearly 5,000 acres of potential potash lands for competitive lease bidding in Grand and San Juan Counties in southeast Utah, not far from Intrepid Potash Inc.’s mine. According to trust lands staff, the leases are in two different groups north and south of the Intrepid operation; the state does not make any recommendations that potash will be found on the lands. But, they noted, the properties lie along the Paradox Basin, which is known to yield potash and salt. Some of the units already carry oil and gas leases, and will require both lessors to come to an agreement on usage. Bids are due Thursday, Jan. 27, for opening on Monday, Jan. 31. One of those certain to be in the lease competition is Universal Potash Corp., which announced earlier this month that it will be aggressively bidding in the Utah trust lands auction, and also planned to participate in the Bureau of Land Management auctions in New Mexico Jan. 19. The Fox Island, Wash., company said it plans to target lithium as well as potash, which potentially occur together in the same salt horizons. Universal plans to re-enter abandoned oil drill sites in search of potash and lithium using modern technology not available at shut down. Previous logs will be analyzed for economical valuations for potash, as well as lithium brines, with a focus on the salt horizons containing the lithium and potash.

Las Vegas, Nev.-A hotel visitor apparently out jogging was treated and released from a local hospital after he slipped and fell in a pool of sulfuric acid that leaked from a broken plastic underground line during a delivery Thursday, Jan. 7, for use in water systems at Wynn’s resort on the Las Vegas strip. Clark County emergency responders said the unidentified man was out running in sweats and gloves at the time, which saved him from more serious injury. “He had on the clothing which saved him, when he could have suffered severe acid burns,” Clark County HazMat Coordinator Richard Brenner told Green Markets. But traffic along famous Las Vegas Boulevard didn’t fare as well, being shut down for more than two hours to keep people from being exposed to the corrosive chemical. Brenner said the pipe failed underground in a spot at the front entrance to the resort, releasing 200 gallons of acid that saturated the ground and surfaced in a planter. He said the hotel personnel responded very quickly to the acid release and the engineering staff is investigating the break in the special type of PVDF pipe widely used in these installations. Workers were also sent out to remove and replace the contaminated soil and replant the flowers ruined by the acid. Soda ash was used to counteract the acidity of the sulfuric acid. Wynn’s said the chemical that spilled was being delivered for use as an acidity regulator in the resort water feature, the “Lake of Dreams” fronting Las Vegas Boulevard.

Toronto, Ont.-Migao Corp., a leading producer of specialty potash fertilizers for the Chinese market, reports that it plans to build a new 100,000 mt/y compound fertilizer plant in Zunyi, Guizhou Province, China. Migao said one of the largest tobacco companies in China has expressed interest in purchasing large quantities of the fertilizer. The new plant will be built in two 50,000 mt/y modules, the first one expected to be completed by year’s end. The capital budget to complete the two phases, including new land use rights, is approximately C$15 million.

Xi’an, China-China Green Agriculture Inc., a Chinese-based fertilizer company, on Jan. 12 responded to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission inquiries. “Recently, allegations about the business of China Green Agriculture were circulated by admitted short sellers, who will profit if the stock price of China Green Agriculture declines,” the company said in a statement. “The reports containing these allegations are largely inaccurate. The company’s outside U.S. legal counsel, in response to an informal inquiry by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has voluntarily provided a comprehensive report on selected issues that were of interest to the SEC to the Los Angeles Office of the SEC. China Green Agriculture will continue to cooperate with the SEC on this matter.” Allegations have been that the company has not accurately reported its financial results. China Green, which is publicly traded in the U.S., mainly produces and distributes humic acid- (HA) based compound fertilizers and other varieties of compound fertilizers through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Shaanxi TechTeam Jinong Humic Acid Product Co., Ltd. (Jinong) and Beijing Gufeng Chemical Products Co., Ltd. (Gufeng). It currently has 740 distributors covering 21 provinces, four autonomous regions, and three central-government-controlled municipalities in the PRC.

Minneapolis, Minn.-Cargill Inc. reported net earnings of $1.49 billion in the FY2011 second quarter ended Nov. 30, compared with $489 million in the same period a year ago. Excluding earnings from its majority investment in The Mosaic Co., Cargill earned $832 million, nearly double last year’s $420 million. In the first six months, Cargill earned $2.37 billion, up from $1.01 billion a year ago. Excluding Mosaic, Cargill’s first-half earnings were $1.53 billion, a 74 percent increase from $878 million a year ago. Consolidated revenues in the second quarter rose 16 percent to $31.1 billion, bringing the total through the first half to $58.9 billion. “Cargill generated strong results across the breadth of our businesses,” said Greg Page, Cargill chairman and CEO. “The diversity and balance built into the mix provides the company with a great deal of resilience. By tapping the connectivity among our businesses, we also put more knowledge and insight to work on behalf of customers. Increasingly, they look to Cargill for innovation that supports their growth objectives.” Four of Cargill’s five business segments posted increased earnings in the second quarter. Results were led by the origination and processing segment, which developed an early and accurate read on the first quarter’s weather events and subsequent shifts in trade flows and supply-and-demand dynamics. This enabled the segment to serve import-dependent customers with grain rerouted from alternate origins while handling substantial volatility across agricultural commodity markets. Second-quarter earnings rose in agricultural services, aided by the bigger grain handling volumes made possible by the large North American harvest. Results in food ingredients were mixed, some units benefited by better volumes and gains from risk management activities, others were pressured by higher raw material costs. On a combined basis, segment earnings increased moderately from 2Q a year ago. Industrial results were lifted by the increase in earnings from Cargill’s majority investment in Mosaic. Earnings decreased in the risk management and financial segment, reflecting sluggish demand in range-bound energy markets.