EuroChem Plans to Invest RUB 200 Billion to Expand Russia's Usolskiy Potash Complex

en.Wedoany.com Reported - EuroChem has announced a new round of expansion plans for the Usolskiy Potash Complex in Russia's Perm Krai, with plans to invest approximately RUB 200 billion from 2025 to 2029 for the modernization of potassium chloride production facilities and the construction of Phase II. Under the project schedule, the existing production system will complete a round of capacity expansion by the end of 2026; the new potassium chloride capacity of Phase II is planned to commence production in 2028 and reach its design capacity in 2029, at which point the complex's annual production target is 5.2 million tonnes.

The existing Phase I ore processing system is the first capacity expansion target of this round of investment. The system currently has a design capacity of approximately 2.9 million tonnes per year, and EuroChem plans to increase it to 3.4 million tonnes per year by the end of 2026 through equipment and production system modifications. The company previously disclosed that the Usolskiy Potash Complex produced its first batch of products in 2018, and Phase I reached its design capacity of 2.3 million tonnes per year in 2021, after which capacity expansion continued. In 2025, the site has entered an active stage of construction of the Phase II ore processing plant, with concurrent relocation and modification of existing plant infrastructure and equipment upgrades.

Phase II is the main source of new capacity under this five-year investment plan. Its core construction content is a new ore processing plant with an annual capacity of 1.8 million tonnes of potassium chloride, planned to commence production in 2028 and reach design capacity in 2029. According to the project environmental documents published by EuroChem in 2026, the Phase II ore processing plant uses flotation to process potash ore. The project documents cover production units including flotation, sludge dewatering, and drying and granulation, among which the drying and granulation workshop has entered the project design and environmental impact assessment procedures. The feedstock comes from potash ore mined at the Usolskiy mine, and the main product is potassium chloride.

The mining side is simultaneously expanding the underground mining and ore hoisting systems. According to EuroChem project documents, the existing No. 1 and No. 2 shafts of the Usolskiy mine serve the underground mining production function, and the No. 3 shaft is under construction with a clear diameter of 8 meters. The construction of the third shaft is a supporting project to expand mining and ore transport capacity, and together with the surface ore processing system expansion, forms the upstream and downstream engineering chain of this capacity increase.

Phase II also includes backfill after underground mining and the construction of surface supporting facilities. In February 2026, EuroChem's Usolskiy Potash Complex approved the project documents for the "Phase II Surface Integrated Facilities Technical Gallery of the Hydraulic Backfill Complex," with design documents prepared by ProTech Engineering. The relevant facilities have completed the public discussion procedure for environmental impact assessment, and a public discussion record dated January 26, 2026 has been formed. The project documents show that Phase II construction is not merely the capacity expansion of a single ore processing unit, but is advanced in parallel with the mine, ore transport, ore processing, tailings, and backfill systems.

According to the production plan published by EuroChem, the Usolskiy site's potassium chloride output in 2026 will exceed 3 million tonnes. After the full implementation of the Phase I modification and the Phase II new ore processing plant, the company plans to increase total output to 5.2 million tonnes per year in 2029; if additional technical measures are further implemented, there is technical room to increase output to 5.4 million tonnes per year. 5.2 million tonnes per year is the official production target corresponding to the current expansion plan.

The Usolskiy Potash Complex develops Russia's Verkhnekamskoye potassium-magnesium salt deposit and produces potassium chloride fertilizer. EuroChem discloses that the site's products currently supply the Russian domestic market and are exported to markets including Brazil, India, China, and Africa. The current expansion project has covered multiple engineering units including the modification of the existing ore processing plant, the Phase II ore processing plant, the third shaft, and hydraulic backfill, with the project execution period extending to 2029.