OREANDA-NEWS. Russian potash producer Uralkali has beaten its own production target for 2014, despite an accident at its Solikamsk-2 mine, with record output of 12.1m tonnes of the key fertiliser ingredient, up from 10mt a year ago.

CEO Dmitry Osipov said last year that the accident would have an "insignificant impact" on its full-year target, and increased utilisation at other mines to compensate.

Potassium chloride output in the miner's fourth quarter was 2.9mt, slightly up from a year earlier - though down from the 3.2mt produced in the third quarter.

Mr Osipov said:

Last year Uralkali produced a record 12.1 million tonnes of [potassium chloride], maintaining its leading position in the global potash industry. The accident that happened at Solikamsk-2 in November 2014 is expected to have a negative impact on our output in 2015.

However, the company will make every effort to meet customer demand both in Russia and abroad through expansion of current - and accelerated development of new - facilities.

Uralkali closed down its Solikamsk-2 mine last year after detecting a higher level of brine inflow and hydrogen sulphide and a sinkhole to the east of the mine site (which accounts for about 18 per cent of annual capacity).

The potash producer's Moscow-traded shares are up 1.2 per cent at Rbs137 apiece.