Potash

Potassium salts dug from buried ancient seas, an irreplaceable crop nutrient with supply concentrated in Canada, Russia and Belarus.

Fertilisers · No. 2

• US critical 2025
• India critical 2023
• HHI 1,836 · moderately concentrated

The potassium feeding the world's crops is dug from salt beds left behind when ancient inland seas dried up.

Chart: Illustration: Potash

Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Potash lies in salt beds left by ancient inland seas, such as the Williston Basin under Saskatchewan. It is mined underground or dissolved out through deep wells.

Three things to know

1. Potassium takes its name from pot ash: wood ashes soaked in pots and boiled down to a white salt.
2. Nothing can replace potassium as a plant nutrient, and manure is too dilute to haul far.
3. The Dead Sea, worked by Israel and Jordan, holds nearly 2 billion tons of potassium chloride.

The journey

1. 1 Evaporite bedsSylvinite left by vanished inland seas
2. 2 MiningUnderground rooms or deep solution wells
3. 3 RefiningFloated or crystallised to 95%+ KCl
4. 4 GranulesMOP, or SOP for chloride-sensitive crops
5. 5 FieldsBlended into fertiliser and spread

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