OREANDA-NEWS. June 27, 2012. State-owned Belarusian company OJSC Belaruskali (based in Soligorsk, Minsk Region) plans to launch the second stage of Krasnoslobodski mine, a company official told.

With the second stage of the new mine up and running in 2012, the company is expected to boost output to 10.3 million tonnes a year from 8.8 million tonnes in 2011.

Simultaneously, OJSC Belaruskali plans to commission in 2013 a chemical plant to process chloride-containing raw materials with a capacity of 10,000 tonnes of 100% potassium hydroxide annually.

The plant will be making potassium hydroxide, hydrogen chloride and liquid chlorine and will export its make and sell it domestically. The construction will be financed from the company’s own funds.

The state-owned Belarusian company OJSC Belaruskali is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of potash fertilizers, employing about 18,440 personnel. It operates the Starobinskoye potash salts deposit and comprises four mine groups, auxiliary shops and support units.

Belaruskali controls 16% of the world’s potash fertilizer market.