BHP Billiton to take a $2.8 billion write-down on US assets

Mining Weekly Online quotes Karnalyte Resources CEO Robin Phinney as saying that its Wynyard project in Saskatchewan has enough resources to eventually produce 6m tons of potash a year and that the company is considering bringing in joint venture partners to do so. Karnalyte initially expects to ramp up production by 500,000 tons per year to reach 2m tons by 2016/2017 at a cost of $1.5bn. The company on Friday was trading at $11, up 42% since it debut on the TSX mid-December last year.

Rio Tinto and Chinalco will be positioning their drills in Mainland China, the two companies announced today, in a new exploration joint venture to operate under the name Chinalco Rio Tinto Exploration Co. Ltd. (CRTX). According to a press release issued by Rio Tinto, the primary focus of CRTX will be copper exploration, with coal and potash to be considered later.

Canadian potash producers are ramping up production targets in anticipation of increasing demand for the mineral, as farmers buy more fertilizer to boost crop yields. On Wednesday Saskatchewan Potash Corp. said it will squeeze an additional 5 million metric tonnes of potash capacity from its existing mines, according to company CFO Wayne Brownlee, speaking at an investor conference in Toronto.

Two separate Wall Street reports gave fertilizer producers a boost on Tuesday. Investment bank Citigroup upgraded its recommendations for the two top producers Mosaic and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan to buy citing strong global agricultural fundamentals and reduced Chinese exports. In a separate opinion Barron's magazine over the weekend said Mosaic's stock is worth a look as potash prices are predicted to rise throughout the year thanks to depleted inventories and consolidation among Russian producers.

Although there was no apparent news driving it, Ethiopian Potash's (TSX-V: FED) shareprice leapt by as much as 20 percent Monday, up from 75 to 90 cents on strong volume. The push upwards may come from investors in anticipation of drilling results from Ethiopian Potash's Danakil property, where it reports an inferred resource of 128 million tonne @ 21 percent potash.

In a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday, Tata Chemicals said that its subsidiary Valley Holdings has bought a 32.9% stake in EPM Mining Ventures, which is the process of developing a potash prospect in Sevier Lake, Utah. According to the Financial Post talks between India and producers at the International Fertilizer Industry Association's annual conference in Montreal broke down on Friday. At some 7m tonnes/year India is the second largest importer of potash in the world and is asking for a 10% discount on the current price of $500/tonne.

A Conference Board of Canada report says high energy and metals prices "are prompting resource companies to invest billions in iron ore projects, nickel processing and offshore oil developments" in Newfoundland and Labrador, generating the largest growth in real GDP this year of all the Canadian provinces." The board's Provincial Outlook - Spring 2011 report issued Wednesday also forecasts that Saskatchewan "will benefit from tax breaks and a hot mining industry."

World number one fertilizer company Potash Corp, received a fillip from S&P on Wednesday after the ratings agency upped the company’s rating to stable from negative and reaffirmed its investment grade corporate credit rating of A-. S&P believes Potash Corp. will benefit from strong fundamentals in the potash business and from the fact that its mines are considered low cost and have long reserve lives. Potash Corp, worth some $46bn on the stock market, has attracted renewed interest from investors on the back of rising global food prices, record earnings at the company, and after a hostile takeover bid was scuppered by the Canadian federal government in November last year.

Reuters reported that the spot price for Brazil potash from Belarus Potash will increase. The market news is quoted as saying: BPC, a joint venture between Belarussian state firm Belaruskali and Russia’s Uralkali, said the move reflected higher global demand for potassium-based fertilizers and limited stocks.