Israel Chemicals Ltd. will expand its production of its new fertilizer polyhalite at its Boulby mine located in northeastern England. The decision follows the approval of the UK government of a 4.9 million pound grant for the expansion of the project of its Cleveland Potash Ltd. (CPL) subsidiary.
The expansion is part of a 38 million pound investment program by CPL to increase capacity and mining of polyhalite marketed as polysulfphate to around 600,000 mt/y from the current level of 130,000 mt/y. “We see significant potential in increasing our production capacity and the marketing of polysulphate,” said ICL Fertilizers CEO Nissim Adar. He added that the positive response of customers and the company’s expectation for increased demand led ICL to decide to substantially increase production.
ICL said that the new investment will be made over the next year after a full scale evaluation of the potential for a further expansion will be completed. CPL says it is currently the only company mining polyhalite and in 2010 ICL began marketing it as a new fertilizer for the agricultural markets.
ICL noted that geological surveys indicate there are deposits of more than a billion mt of polyhalite under the company’s potash mine in Boulby. The Boulby mine is currently the sole producer of potash in the UK.