Melbourne-Why spend billions of dollars and years to enter the potash industry with a new greenfield plant when you can buy a large, existing player when the stock market is down? That appears to be the gist of recent speculation about Australian giant BHP Billiton, which has long wanted to enter the potash business in a big way. Add to that the fact that BHP is flush with cash after having raised an estimated $6 billion from the sale of bonds. Analysts and news media took the bait and have speculated once again (GM Dec. 10, 2007, p. 10) that BHP might be interested in PotashCorp or The Mosaic Co. Earlier this year, BHP asked the Province of Saskatchewan for permission to construct the world’s largest potash mine (GM March 16, p. 12). The mine would be located west of Saskatoon. Potash production could start as early as 2015 and achieve full production of 8 million mt/y by 2026. Government approval is reportedly not expected until the spring of 2011. BHP has been eyeing such a project for some time and last year bought all of the shares of Anglo Potash Ltd., which had been developing a potash project (GM July 14, 2008).
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