RE: Glencore Makes $5.49 Billion Bid for Grain Han The forecast is for more consolidation, stoked by a desire by traders to capture margins along the crop supply chain, by mining groups to extend into fertilizers, and by Asian and Middle Eastern countries wishing to increase food security.
IC Potash is well positioned for strategic partnerships with global trading, fertilizer and mining companies.
IC Potash stands out in a crowded junior potash space ie there is a scarcity of low cost assets, with manageable process risk, a proven resource, unparalleled management bench strength, access to infrastructure, and a solid balance sheet.
IC Potash is positioning itself as a key player in the broader agrifood supply chain and a key factor in providing the Sulphate of Potash inputs farmers need to grow more food sustainably.
Potash fertilizers will become top of mind for governments where food productivity is imperative with an urgent need to boost crop yields. Responding to attractive agricultural commodity prices, world fertilizer demand is anticipated to rise steadily.
SOP is a significant fertilizer used by producers of vegetables, fruits, tobacco, horticultural plants due to the fact it does not contain the chloride associated with MOP which can damage high value crops.
ICP is developing a world class, long life and low cost potash mine and production facility in Lea Country, southeast New Mexico, a stable and well-known mining jurisdiction where both the Mosaic Co. and Intrepid Potash are currently producing potash with excellent infrastructure with access to railways, ports, natural gas, roads and water. The vast majority of US potash reserves are in the region, including seven existing potash mines.
There are only three SOP producers in the world with naturally occurring sources of SOP and these producers have operating costs less than half the marginal producer, low-cost supply is scarce, and SOP demand is more stable than MOP.
IC Potash has a strategic shareholder base such as Resource Capital Funds, one of the world’s largest mining-focused private equity firms.
The foundation for IC Potash's process of turning polyhalite into SOP is based on previous work performed by the US Bureau of Mines (USBM) and the Potash Company of America (PCA). In its simplest form, the IC Potash process uses heat and water to produce a tailored brine similar to those occurring naturally in a small handful regions in the world. The front-end polyhalite-to-brine process has been proven historically and is well documented. The back-end brine-to-SOP process is currently being used around the world. Though the entire process has not yet been proven at commercial scale, the process risk is far from binary, with any issues now associated with optimization rather than feasibility.