Whiting Equipment Canada will supply salt evaporators and potash crystallisers for Vale’s turnkey Potasio Rio Colorado (PRC) potash solution mining plant in Argentina’s Mendoza Province. The $150-$300 million potash crystallisation plant is the heart of the $4.2 billion investment Vale is making in PRC including significant social and environmental development in Argentina.  Another Canadian company, SNC-Lavalin, will provide the balance-of-plant engineering. Construction of the crystallization plant is expected to begin in December 2012 with the facility operational in January, 2014.  Once operational the plant will increase world production of potash by 5%, producing 2.4 Mt/y of potash, with potential phased-in increases to 4.2 Mt/y before 2020. 

The current world potash market is about 50 Mt/y. Canada is the largest producer (35%); China is the largest consumer (27%).

H.- Rudi Kroeker, President and CEO of Whiting Equipment Canada: “Canadians are world leaders in solution mining and potash processing. This project clearly demonstrates Canada’s leadership in this field.”

“This is the world’s first new green-field solution mining project of this size in over 40 years,” Kroeker said. “All the process engineering and equipment design was completed at Whiting’s facility in Niagara, Canada.”

Whiting Equipment Canada’s most recent potash crystallisation plant equipment will begin start up this spring at Qinghai Salt Lake located in Western China. Whiting Equipment Canada has delivered the first order for long-delivery alloy materials required to fabricate similar capacity evaporation/crystallisation equipment for Potash One’s (K+S) Legacy potash solution mine in Southern Saskatchewan.

Whiting Equipment Canada uses technology invented by sister company Swenson Technology to develop the process and engineer the potash processing equipment.  Most of the world’s operating potash plants use Swenson processes and/or equipment with 36 installations worldwide.

First performed in Saskatchewan 50 years ago with Swenson’s technology, solution mining uses water to dissolve potash from deep underground ore zones. The brine is taken from the wellfield; the salt and potash are separated through a process of fractional crystallisation. The resulting salt and potash slurries are then sent through dewatering equipment. The water is then pumped back into the well to dissolve more potash.