CF Industries Holdings Inc. and OCI N.V. have announced that they have amended the combination agreement originally announced on Aug. 6, 2015. Under the amended agreement, the jurisdiction of incorporation and tax residency of the new holding company has been changed from the United Kingdom to the Netherlands. The move was in response to recent U.S. Department of Treasury rules.

The amended agreement has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

"The industrial logic and strategic rationale of the combination remains very attractive, with expected operational and structural synergies essentially unchanged from those previously announced," said Tony Will, CF president and CEO.

The anticipated timing to close the transaction remains mid-2016. The proposed transaction remains subject to approval by the shareholders of CF and OCI, as well as customary closing conditions and certain other regulatory approvals. Antitrust approvals and clearances obtained to date include approval from the European Commission on Dec. 4, 2015; the expiration of the waiting period mandated for United States government antitrust review on Nov. 2, 2015; and unconditional approval from the Turkish Competition Authority received on Oct. 6, 2015. The companies said they will continue to pursue all required regulatory approvals.

The Kassel Regional Council on Dec. 18 authorized K+S Kali GmbH to resume the injection of saline wastewater from the Werra plant until Dec. 31, 2016, to a limited extent. K+S expects that the final decision regarding the application to continue injection until the end of 2021, will be completed next summer following the completion of the technical assessment by the authority.

"The very limited continuation of injection is a step in the right direction. Nonetheless, until the final decision regarding our injection application, we will have to continue to align production and disposal of the saline wastewater that will inevitably result from our operations to the water flow of the Werra River. Overall, that will be more possible at the beginning of the year due to above average precipitation." said Dr. Ralf Diekmann, managing director of K+S Kali. In view of this, further temporary production restrictions at the individual sites of the Werra plant cannot be ruled out in the months ahead. As a precautionary measure, a works agreement on short-time working has been concluded with the works council.

The Council has granted permission to K+S to continue with the injection of saline wastewater at the Hattorf site of the Werra plant until Dec. 31, 2016, as a transitional measure on the basis of an annual total volume of 725,000 cubic meters. A volume of 120,000 cubic meters per month shall not be exceeded. The technical authority believes that this restriction during the transitional phase will definitely remove any cause for concern regarding groundwater and drinking water.

On Jan. 1, 2016, Belarus will increase the export duty on potash fertilizers, according to Belarusian press agency, Belta, citing Decree No. 490 dated Dec. 17, 2015, which it said was officially published on the national legal internet portal.

On Jan. 1, the export duty on potash fertilizers exported from the territory of Belarus outside the customs territory of the Eurasian Economic Union (except potash fertilizers exported to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Serbia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan) will equal €55 per mt. In 2015, the duty was €45 per mt.

Compass Minerals, Overland Park, Kan., announced on Dec. 17 that it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase a 35 percent stake in Produquímica Industria e Comercio S.A., one of Brazil’s leading manufacturers and distributors of specialty plant nutrients.

The all-cash transaction is valued at R$452.4 million (approximately US$115.9 million at today’s exchange rate) and is subject to customary post-closing adjustments. The agreement also includes a path to full ownership by early 2019.

"We are excited to enter one of the world’s largest and most important agricultural markets with Produquímica," said Fran Malecha, Compass president and CEO. "Produquímica has a long history in Brazil and strong prospects for continued growth and margin expansion. Its wide range of specialty plant nutrients, application technologies, and extensive distribution network, are uniquely positioned to meet growers’ need for yield enhancement. Produquímica is a good strategic fit with our existing plant nutrition business, and this investment is an important part of our growth plan."

Based in São Paulo, Produquímica has eight manufacturing facilities throughout Brazil and employs approximately 1,400 workers. The company anticipates EBITDA of approximately R$180 million and revenues of approximately R$1.0 billion in 2015 from its two primary businesses – agricultural productivity and chemical solutions.

Produquímica’s agricultural productivity division manufactures and distributes a range of specialty plant nutrition solution-based products that include micronutrients, controlled release fertilizers, and other specialty supplements used in direct soil and foliar applications, as well as through irrigation systems and for seed treatment. Produquímica also manufactures and markets specialty chemicals, primarily for the water treatment industry and use in other industrial processes in Brazil.

"We are pleased to partner with Compass Minerals in Brazil’s specialty plant nutrition and chemical market," said Gerhard Schultz, president of Produquímica. "This investment from a strong, U.S.-based company allows us to accelerate our growth initiatives and benefit from the exchange of knowledge between our two companies."

Compass expects to close the transaction by the end of 2015. Upon closing, Malecha and Matthew Foulston, chief financial officer for Compass, will join the board of directors of Produquímica.

Indian Farmers Fertiliser Co-operative Ltd. (IFFCO) and La Coop fédérée announced on Dec. 14 that the IFFCO Canada urea production plant project at Bécancour, Quebec, is being put on hold due to the current "low pricing cycle worldwide" for urea.

"As in many other resource sectors, current market conditions are unfavorable for completing the financing required, and this is disrupting the scheduled start of construction," the companies said. "Urea prices are at their lowest level in five years and as a consequence, investors are being prudent."

IFFCO Canada cautioned that the announcement did not signal the end of the project, and said the facility’s promoters and investors "believe that the world class project remains fundamentally viable, and that the support of the government of Québec and major institutional partners remains solid."

The urea production facility was first announced by IFFCO in October 2012 (GM Oct. 12, 2012), with a planned production capacity of 1.3-1.6 million mt/y of granular urea and 760,000 mt/y of diesel exhaust fluid (DEF). IFFCO’s partner in the project, Montreal-based La Coop fédérée, was expected to get 500,000 mt/y of urea from the facility for distribution in Canada and the U.S. IFFCO’s share of urea from the plant was to be marketed first to Quebec customers, followed by customers in the rest of North America, with the balance exported to India.

The cost of the facility was initially projected at C$1.2 billion, with construction slated to begin in 2014 pending the results of regulatory approvals, capital raising efforts, and a feasibility study. In December 2014, however, La Coop and IFFCO announced a "strategic pause" in their plans for the plant (GM Dec. 19, 2014), saying construction cost estimates had ballooned to more than C$2 billion. The companies said at that time that they were suspending the preparation of preliminary plans and specifications, as well as the signing of an EPC (engineering/procurement/construction) contract, to allow shareholders more time to "review the global strategy of financing, construction, and execution."

IFFCO and La Coop reported on Dec. 14 that they believe the Bécancour plant "will still fill a major need in Québec and Canadian agricultural markets," and said the project continues to received "unwavering support" from local authorities in the Bécancour Industrial Park & Port Facility. IFFCO Canada also reported that it will be keeping its offices in both Montréal and Bécancour open.

"We are halting the project as a result of the current poor rates for urea that is blocking the promoters and investors from attaining the plant’s anticipated profitability," said Claude Lafleur, IFFCO Canada director general. "We are waiting for the cyclical low point in the price of urea to end, which we expect will allow resumption of the project. In the interim, we continue to work on developing the project and preparing for its relaunch. It should be remembered that this is one of the largest industrial projects in recent years in Québec."

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. has agreed to a fine of C$280,000 in the February 2014 death of a potash worker (GM Feb. 24, 2014). The 31-year old died at the Cory mine when ore fell and struck him. Another employee also had non-life threatening injuries.

A PotashCorp spokesman told Green Markets that the company appeared in court Dec. 9 to accept responsibility and it is taking major steps to assure that such an incident does not occur again; including increased bolting to mine ceilings; use of ground penetrating radar to better picture the stability of ceilings; and the automatic installation of brattices.

The company estimates that it is spending some $10 million in new safety-oriented technologies at its mines.