The first load of Sulphate of Potash loads at Beyondie on Friday. Photo: Kalium Lakes Limited

THE initial delivery of Sulphate of Potash (SOP) from the Beyondie SOP Mine was made on Friday to Western Australian fertiliser manufacturer and distributor CSBP Fertilisers, the ASX-listed company Kalium Lakes Limited announced on Sunday.

Kalium Lakes is Australia’s first producer of SOP through primary solar evaporation, and SOP is to be delivered in accordance with the 10-year offtake agreement with K&S Asia Pacific.

CSBP will use the SOP from Beyondie to make fertiliser for local farmers to use in their 2023 cropping program.

“This is an important milestone in the commissioning of the Beyondie SOP Mine as the sole Australian
producer of SOP,” Kalium Lakes CEO Len Jubber said.

“It also heralds the start of the era of domestic SOP production in Australia, for distribution
to the Australian and international agricultural markets.”

“As the only WA producer of compound nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium products, CSBP
Fertilisers is pleased to be receiving the first tranche of locally produced SOP, a key feedstock in the
manufacture of CSBP’s premium NPK compound fertiliser MacroPro Extra,” CSBP Fertilisers general manager Mark Scatena said.

“While CSBP has long maintained strong and diverse global supply relationships, local SOP production has the potential to improve the security of supply for WA industry, enabling CSBP to continue the local
manufacture of its premium fertiliser range tailored to WA conditions and the requirements of WA growers.”

The Beyondie project is located in WA’s Pilbara region.

Kalium Lakes has begun delivering into an SOP market that has seen prices double from their long–term
average in the last 12 months.

These price increases have largely been the result of economic and financial sanctions on Belarus and Russia, which together account for more than 35 per cent of the global Muriate of Potash (MOP) market, with MOP being the primary input in the production of approximately half the world’s SOP.

Furthermore, global SOP supply is also being curtailed by Chinese government export restrictions on a range of fertilisers which were introduced in October 2021.

China’s SOP exports for the January to June 2022 period fell by more than half compared to the same period a year earlier.

Source: Kalium Lakes Limited