Portugal’s mining strategy may favour copper over lithium
Portugal already has the largest copper mine in the European Union, operated by Lundin Mining.
Russia’s EuroChem plans to start producing potash at two mines in 2017, the company told Reuters last week.
The private company said it’s expanding because it takes a 10-to-20 year view that demand for potash will resume.
It plans to hit its capacity of 8.3 million tonnes by 2022. From this total, it hopes to sell 4.5 million tonnes to 6 million tonnes of muriate potash while the rest will be turned into other products.
The $3.9 billion VolgaKaliy project near the southwestern city of Volgograd is back at the drawing board after problems sinking its mine shaft. Once it’s running, it will produce up to 4.6 million tonnes annually.
Construction on the $2.85 billion Usolskiy project, near the city of Perm in the Ural Mountains, is on schedule. It will produce 3.7 million tonnes when it’s ready.
EuroChem said it may do an initial public offering but not until production is running.
Image: EuroChem
