EuroChem Mineral Chemical Co. OJSC produced first potash at its Usolskiy project in Russia's Perm region as part of an expansion plan to boost annual potash output to 4.6 million tonnes over the next four years.
In a March 13 release, the company said first marketable production is expected in the second quarter. Once fully operational, the project will have a total annual production of 2.3 million tonnes of muriate of potash, the most commonly used potash fertilizer in agriculture.
"We are now focused on completing commissioning and ramping up to commercial production, targeting about 450,000 tonnes of finished product before the end of the year," EuroChem CEO Dmitry Strezhnev said.
The launch of the Usolskiy project was initially planned for the fourth quarter of 2017 but was pushed back two months due to a fire at the building site in December 2017. The company's global product manager of phosphates and potash, Tom Luigs, told S&P Global Market Intelligence that the company's second potash facility, Gremyachinskoe, expects first marketable output in summer 2018.
At the end of 2017, EuroChem announced it was putting US$7 billion into the development of potash projects, eyeing a production figure of 4.6 million tonnes annually by 2022.
