CHS Inc. and Mountain View Co-op, Black Eagle, Mont., announced on Sept. 10 that they have formed a limited liability company to build a 35,000-ton dry fertilizer warehouse at Collins, Mont. Construction on the warehouse is underway, with completion expected mid-summer 2013.

Products stored at the new facility will include urea, phosphates, potash, ammonium sulfate, and micronutrients. Mountain View will be the facility’s exclusive fertilizer retailer, serving growers throughout its trade area in north-central Montana.

“Over the years, we’ve noticed a continued shift to earlier planting, and an increase in the time it takes fertilizer manufacturers to get products to us to meet growers’ needs,” said Bruce Clark, Mountain View’s general manager. “This new facility will enable us to meet our growers’ increased demand for nitrogen and sulfur products, to ensure healthy, profitable crop production.”

CHS said the new warehouse supports its strategic aspirations of investing in projects that leverage cooperative enterprise capabilities and focus on grower needs.

“Urea normally produced and shipped from Canada is increasingly being used locally by Canadian farmers, greatly limiting product availability,” said Cheryl Schmura, CHS vice president, Crop Nutrients. “The strategic location of the Collins fertilizer hub plant means customers in this region will have secure, competitive supply.”

Mountain View operates 10 agronomy locations within a 100-mile radius of Great Falls, Mont., serving farmers growing dryland winter wheat and barley, malt barley, and irrigated hay.

The Andersons Inc. Plant Nutrient Group today announced expansion plans for its fertilizer distribution terminal at Wisconsin Rapids, Wisc.

The expansion will add nearly 30,000 st of new storage space for dry fertilizer materials at the site, including potash, selected dry phosphates and nitrogen products, pelletized lime, and others, along with high speed rail receiving and truck load-out systems. The new bulk fertilizer building will provide inland storage for dry materials for the central sands area of Wisconsin. Construction will begin this fall, with completion expected in time for spring 2013 planting season.

“The investment is in direct alignment with our growth strategy and will strengthen our position in the marketplace by adding dry fertilizers for a more complete product offering," said Bill Wolf, Plant Nutrient Group President. "The addition of this new fertilizer storage building broadens our product supply to area customers, and fills a need for product positioning for dry bulk fertilizer products."

Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary Iowa Fertilizer Co. (IFCo) has awarded the OCI Construction Group a turnkey engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to build its new greenfield nitrogen fertilizer plant in southeastern Iowa. The total contract value is expected to exceed US$ 1 billion. Under the terms of the EPC contract, the new plant will utilize proven state-of-the-art production process technologies from Kellogg Brown and Root LLC (KBR), Stamicarbon BV (Maire Tecnimont Group) and ThyssenKrupp Uhde (Uhde) to produce between 1.5-2 million mt/y of ammonia, urea, urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) as well as diesel exhaust fluid (DEF). Tecnimont S.p.A. (Maire Tecnimont Group) will provide engineering and procurement (EP) services for the ammonia line while Uhde will provide EP services for the urea, UAN and DEF lines. Construction work on the plant is expected to be completed in 35 months.

While OCI did not reveal the site of the new nitrogen plant in its press release, locals have indicated it would be in Lee County, near Wever. A previous Lee County site had been pulled due to flooding concerns.

OCI said its OCI Construction Group ranks among the world’s top global contractors and has built several nitrogen fertilizer plants in the Middle East. The OCI Construction Group has had a long standing relationship and successful track-record working with KBR, Marie Tecnimont Group and Uhde on various projects, including four nitrogen fertilizer plants in Egypt and Algeria with a combined value exceeding US$ 3 billion. The OCI Construction Group is currently building a nitrogen fertilizer plant in Egypt in cooperation with Marie Tecnimont Group and KBR.

OCI Construction Group Chief Operating Officer, Osama Bishai, commented “the OCI Construction Group will draw upon its experience and expertise in building similar facilities and will also leverage its US construction platform which now includes the Weitz Co. to fast-track the construction of this project. We have worked well with Maire Tecnimont Group and Uhde on several projects and believe our performance on this project will be a landmark reference for us to grow our business in North America.”

Maire Tecnimont Group Chief Operating Officer, Pierroberto Folgiero, commented “we are very proud to cooperate again with an important and prestigious group such as OCI. This award represents the first recent success of the Maire Tecnimont Group in North America, a very promising market in the future. This contract opens up new growth opportunities in North America for our Group and consolidates our track record in the strategic fertilizer sector.”

Chairman of the Executive Board of ThyssenKrupp Uhde, Dr. Michael Thiemann commented ”the fertilizer contract in Iowa is the next chapter in our success story with OCI, which, after Egypt and Algeria, has now taken us to the United States. We are looking forward to nurturing our long-standing relationship with OCI by working closely on this project.”

In related news, as noted above, OCI also announced that it will acquire The Weitz Co., a U.S. general contractor based in Des Moines, Iowa. Weitz has three core business lines: commercial, federal, and industrial construction, and has typically ranked among the top 50 in Engineering News Record’s (ENR) Top 400 Contractors list and is the largest contractor in the state of Iowa. The company generated US$ 681.5 million of revenue in 2011 and prior to the recent economic downturn generated revenues in excess of US$ 1.5 billion. Weitz had a backlog of US$ 787.7 million as at 30 June 2012 with federal projects representing 51 percent, commercial projects 36 percent and industrial projects 13 percent of backlog. All of Weitz’s current management and employees will be retained following the acquisition.

OCI said t

CF Industries Holdings Inc. reported on Aug. 30 that its Donaldsonville, La., nitrogen complex sustained no significant damage from Hurricane Isaac and has initiated the process of restarting all operating units. The company had shut down production at the complex as a precautionary measure on Aug. 28. The Donaldsonville facility is located on the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

“We have no reports of any injuries to our employees, although many are still without power and some have experienced damage to their homes. Our thoughts are with those who were impacted by the storm,” said Tony Will, CF Senior Vice President, manufacturing and distribution. “We are in contact with our customers and will advise them on the status of production and deliveries from the facility.”

The Mosaic Co. confirmed on Sept. 3 that its Louisiana plants—Faustina and Uncle Sam were both back up.

Spokesmen for PotashCorp and Mississippi Phosphates Corp. could not be reached over the Labor Day holiday; however, it was likely that their respective Gulf area plants–Geismar, La., and Pascagoula, Miss., were on their way back up as well.

Agrium Advanced Technologies announced that it will be permanently closing its Courtright, Ont., facility. Agrium said it came to this decision after conducting a thorough examination of the plant’s future and the supply of raw material options.

Andrew Mittag, President, Agrium Advanced Technologies, explained, “It has become ever more challenging in these times of high urea volatility to secure a supply that would allow us to operate the facility profitably therefore, after considering numerous alternatives, we have reluctantly decided to permanently close this facility. This was a difficult decision.”

During the closure and dismantling process, Agrium Advanced Technologies will work closely with various regulatory agencies as part of its commitment to environmental stewardship. There are 28 employees at the Courtright facility. Some will temporarily remain past the Aug. 29, 2012 shutdown date to support shipping of inventory and final shutdown of the operation.

The Courtright facility annually produced approximately 68,000 mt of controlled release products used in the turfgrass market. Customers of the Courtright plant will continue to receive products manufactured from alternate AAT sources.

Sifto Canada Corp., a subsidiary of Compass Minerals has reached a tentative agreement with the Communications, Energy and Paperworks Union Local 16-O, which represents employees at the company’s salt mine in Goderich, Ont. Union officials have indicated that they intend to put the agreement to a ratification vote in early September. The mine’s management will continue to produce and ship rock salt to customers at reduced rates until union members ratify the agreement and return to work.

“We’re pleased that we could work with union negotiators to reach a mutually beneficial tentative agreement on all matters pertaining to a new three-year collective agreement,” said Angelo Brisimitzakis, Compass Minerals’ president and CEO. “We are looking forward to our Goderich mine employees returning to work as soon as possible.”

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. reported that its Donaldsonville, Louisiana nitrogen complex has undertaken an orderly shutdown at the facility in advance of Tropical Storm Isaac which is anticipated to impact the Donaldsonville area beginning in the next 12 to 24 hours. The Donaldsonville facility is located on the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

“Our immediate concern is the safety and welfare of our employees and neighbors who may be impacted by the storm,” said Tony Will, senior vice president, manufacturing and distribution, CF Industries Holdings, Inc. “We are taking the plant down as a precautionary measure as part of routine hurricane procedures. We are in contact with our customers and will let them know when we expect to resume production and deliveries from the facility.”

In the meantime, PotashCorp has taken down its nitric acid plant at Geismar, effective Aug. 27, and is weighing further shutdowns.

The Mosaic Co. said today that it has temporarily shut down its two Louisiana facilities due to Hurricane Isaac. As earlier reported, CF Industries has shut down its giant Donaldsonville facility. PotashCorp shut down Geismar, La., nitric acid production and was weighing a shutdown of phosphoric acid.