Potash, or potassium carbonate, is an important fertilizer for agricultural crops worldwide.  The world’s growing population means more food production is needed each year. Potash is important to farmers because it improves water retention, yield, nutrient value, taste, colour, texture and disease resistance of food crops. It has a wide application to grains, rice, fruits, vegetables, and other crops and is an irreplaceable crop nutrient as it has no commercial substitute.

Global demand for potash has seen a 35 per cent increase on a cumulative basis between 2000 and 2007. Industry projections for potash indicate potential further increases in demand, however potash deposits are not readily found many regions of the world.  In fact 84 per cent of the world potash production is currently supplied by only five countries.

Agriculture is a key business sector for Brazil as it is one of the world’s largest producers of coffee, orange juice, sugar, soybean and corn.  Brazil currently imports the majority of their potash from abroad (approximately 90 per cent) as it has only one domestic potash mine, the Taquari-Vassouras mine owned by Vale, and its reserves are expected to expire in the medium term (2017-2020). Hence the opportunity for Talon is to develop a new local source of potash supply for the domestic agricultural market.

- December 2009 -