Big Utah potash project collapses for lack of investors

A few years ago, Crystal Peak Minerals boasted of plans to become a top producer of potash, a valuable mineral used in fertilizers, once it got its operation running on the bed of Utah’s Sevier Lake.

Yet after successfully securing the permits and incentives it needed to commence construction last year, the Canadian-owned firm is walking away from the project after failing to raise sufficient capital, according to company news releases. Not even a promised tax credit worth up $112 million from the state of Utah could entice enough investors.

In a corporate restructuring announcement earlier this month, the Salt Lake City-based Crystal Peak reported it was handing the project to its key creditor, Australia-based private-equity manager EMR Capital Investments. Crystal Peak said it is moving on to pursue new projects targeting gold and base metals.

With great fanfare last year, the Trump administration’s Interior Department announced it was approving Crystal Peak’s plans for a network of canals and evaporation ponds on the 124,000 acres comprising the mostly dry Sevier lakebed in Millard County.

Read more: https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2020/10/11/big-utah-potash-project/
(Salt Lake Tribune)