K+S Group has set new intermediate production targets for its ramp-up of its Bethune potash mine in Saskatchewan.
“The next focus is 2.6 million mt/y, and we already have finished the design for the next step,” K+S Chairman and CEO Burkhard Lohr told analysts at a company earnings call on March 15. “Then, the next target is 3.2 million mt/y, and as we have previously stated, the final step is 4 million mt/y.”
K+S Potash Canada announced a long-tem plan to boost potash production at its Bethune facility to 4 million mt/y last May, with the final production capacity intended to grow continuously over the next couple of decades (GM May 27, 2022).
K+S previously has said most, if not all, of the anticipated additional production capability is coming from secondary mining at the Bethune site, with the potential increase for technical reasons limited to no more than 50,000-150,000 mt/y (GM May 13, 2022).
The company first started secondary mining at Bethune in 2019, using what it described at the time as “new technology” for the company (GM May 17, 2019).
The Bethune mine and processing plant has a basic nameplate production capacity of about 2 million mt/y. K+S this week confirmed that total potash production volumes at Bethune were 1.9 million mt in 2021 and 2.1 million mt last year.
Lohr told analysts at this week’s earning call that the secondary mining will provide for an increase in potash output of 100,000-150,000 mt per annum. However, because K+S will have a maintenance break of three weeks at Bethune in the third quarter of 2023, Lohr said output at Bethune will remain at the same volume this year as seen in 2022.