New Fertilisers Use Boulby Polyhalite

ICL Boulby is playing a key role in developing new fertiliser products to meet the needs of agriculture worldwide.

The mine in East Cleveland is the world’s first and only producer of the ground-breaking mineral polyhalite which global minerals and speciality company ICL is now using it as a base for its recently-launched FertilizerpluS range of premium fertilisers, providing nutrients—including sulphur, potassium, calcium and magnesium—to boost crop quality and yields.

Production of polyhalite—marketed as Polysulphate—is being ramped towards a target of reaching a million tonnes a year by the end of 2020. It is already sold in countries across five continents and recently ICL concluded a new supply agreement with customers in China for a total of 89.000 tonnes in 2019.

Says Andrew Fulton, Vice President and General Manager at ICL Boulby “There is growing interest worldwide in the benefits that multi-nutrient fertilisers based on polyhalite can provide to meet the needs of farmers in many different areas and conditions.

“The impressive results achieved by ICL research—with an increase of up to 30 per cent in yields—led to the decision to use Boulby polyhalite for an entire new product line and already there are six new products in the FertilizerpluS range.

“This year we will be continuing to increase our production levels and making substantial investments in plant and equipment to help meet the growing demand for our products.

“Making the transition from potash, which we had mined for over 40 years, to become the world’s first and only producer of polyhalite has been a major challenge but now we can see the benefits which should ensure that we can make a major contribution to the local economy and community—as well as global food production— for many years to come.”