Canada-based company Sage Potash will receive a $14mn grant from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to fund the construction of a Utah potash project, in line with recent federal efforts to boost domestic output of the fertilizer.
The grant will be used to fund and develop the Sage Plain Potash Project located in the Paradox Basin. The project has an anticipated capacity of 300,000 metric tonnes (t)/y.
According to a Sage Potash presentation, the Paradox Basin contains more than 2bn t, or about 25pc of US potash resources, but produces only 3.5pc of current domestic demand.
"The USDA grant underscores the importance of increasing domestic potash capacity to serve US farmers and Sage is uniquely positioned to build incremental capacity in-market that is derisked in terms of capital, time to production and execution," president Tim Mizuno said.
Just last month potash was added to the draft list of critical minerals for the Department of Interior and US Geological Survey, freeing up access to federal funding. And the grant itself was approved under the Fertilizer Product Expansion Program that focuses on increasing the production and processing of fertilizer and nutrients in the US.
Another domestic potash project, Michigan Potash, was granted federal funding in January, shortly before an executive order was issued by US President Donald Trump to include potash on the administration's list of American critical minerals.
