TSXV:AAA.P - Post by User
Post by
sdomaeon Sep 08, 2014 12:07pm
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Post# 22915839
Expensive
Expensive Primary SOP production requires extracting potassium and sulphate ions from naturally occurring complex ores or brines. Processing of natural brines is a relatively low-cost option, but is limited because of the small number of salt lakes in the world that contain both potassium and sulphate. There are brine operations in Utah (Great Salt Lake Minerals Corporation, owned by Compass Minerals International), Chile (Salar de Atacama, owned by SQM), and China (with the largest producer being SDIC Xinjiang Luobupo Potash). The average cost of production for salt lakes is approximately US$200+ per tonne.
Secondary SOP production requires the chemical conversion of MOP. The most common secondary-production process, producing 60% of the world supply of SOP, is the Mannheim process, whereby sulphuric acid is combined with MOP. This process requires energy and labor. The largest producer is Tessenderlo Chemie NV of Belgium, with a capacity for approximately 750,000 tonnes per year. This is a high-cost process, averaging US$500 per tonne. K+S Kali GmbH of Germany converts MOP to SOP using various sulphate salts, at a production cost of approximately US$400 per tonne or higher.