The world's largest potash producer
Uralkali plans to invest $4.5 billion
during the next five years to implement
a new development strategy to improve
efficiencies and marketing structure,
and increase its production capacity
from 11 million metric tons per year
(mt/y) of potassium chloride (KCl) in
2014 to 14.4 million mt/y of KCI in
2020. Employing more than 10,000,
the company operates five mines and
seven mills, located near the towns of
Berezniki and Solikamsk in Russia's
Perm Region. Management is planning
radical reforms for almost all aspects of
Uralkali's operations, as the company
tries to distance itself from numerous
past problems.
During March, Uralkali adopted a
new investment strategy to grow pro-
duction. It had to abandon its previous
plan to increase production capacity to
19 million mt of KCl by 2021 when its
Solikamsk No. 2 mine suddenly flooded
a little more than a year ago. The brine
inflow caused a major sinkhole to form
and collapse in a populated area, which
created a huge negative public outcry.
Some summer cottages fell into the
sinkhole, but no lives were lost.
38 E&MJ; • DECEMBER 2015 www.e-mj.com
U R A L K A L I
Uralkali Tapers its Growth Strategy
Recovering from the Solikamsk No. 2 flooding and other issues, the company charts
a new course forward
By Vladislav Vorotnikov
The headframes at the Ust-Yayvinsky mine represent the beginning of $1.9 billion investment to add 2.5 million mt/y of KCI.