By Josh Mayfield
I said that potash should be a critical mineral for the United States (U.S.) when I published my story about it in the Hallgarten + Company Growth Minerals Sector Review in April 2025. Naysayers were bearish on the news about potash becoming a U.S. critical mineral at the time. However, global potash market concentration is the dominant theme for the sector, and so there should be more investments in the junior potash mining space going forward, especially in the U.S market.
Sage Potash aims to become the second producer of muriate of potash (MOP) in the U.S. One of the standout aspects of Sage Potash is the production cost advantage that it has at the Sage Plain Potash Project. The transportation from mine to market will provide a valuable domestic source of MOP for the U.S. agriculture community.
The company is developing a potash mine in the Paradox Basin of Utah, where a new MOP source of 300,000 mts per year is going to help U.S. farmers access a reliable domestic source of potash and reduce their reliance on potash imports. Given the Sage Plain Potash Project’s proximity to the U.S. domestic market, there is a USD $100-150/mt logistical cost advantage compared with peer MOP competitors located in Canada, Germany, Israel, and Jordan. Producers in Russia and Belarus also are key suppliers of MOP to the global fertilizer market.
As a junior potash developer in the U.S., Sage Potash is dedicated to supplying U.S. farmers and other agricultural producers with a reliable, cost-effective potash supply. For example, the Sage Plain project uses proven solution mining techniques, as opposed to conventional mining operations that install vertical underground shafts into deep potash seams for extraction and processing. The latter also has a more complicated separation process whereby potash ores must be separated from salt and clay seams that have occurred in the potash bearing formations over time.
Sage Potash will inject a brine into the underground layers of potassium to extract the potassium minerals from underground and bring them to surface. Mechanical evaporation will be used to process the brine, which has significant water saving and production advantages. While solar evaporation processes are currently trending in the junior potash mining space, potash extraction using the mechanical evaporation process will mean a more efficient potash production capacity for the long term.
Economic prospects for production capacity expansions will be considered once the company begins its Phase 1 production of 300,000 mts per year from the Sage Plain mine. At the initial development stage, approval for the large mine operation (LMO) permit will allow Sage Potash to begin work at the ready-to-produce plant that is constructed and ready in the Netherlands. This will give Sage Potash a significant capex advantage due to the company’s lower construction costs compared with other junior potash developers.
Sage Potash is a TSX-Venture listed company (TSX-V: SAGE). The preliminary economic assessment (PEA) released by Sage Potash in September 2025 declared that the initial capex requirements will be USD $155 million, with an average operating cost of USD $144/mt of potash production. The Sage Plain Potash Project has a resource base of 298 million mts, at 118 million mts of potassium chloride (KCI) with a KCI content of 46.1 per cent in the upper bed potash seams. The company’s strategy is to become the first choice of U.S. farmers for their potash needs, while providing a domestic source of potash at lower costs than competitors in the U.S. market.
In conclusion, the U.S. must invest in more domestic potash sources to compete on prices for fertilizer procurement in the future. Potash producers in Russia and Belarus are likely to form an oligopoly that captures market share in the East of Suez, where emerging growth markets for MOP supplies will be needed to boost production of palm oil for biofuel demand and rice for food security. Reducing U.S. potash imports will depend on the successes of junior potash explorers and developers to bring new sources to market. There are also known potash reserves within the states of New Mexico, Arizona, and Michigan.
Joshua Mayfield is a growth minerals and sector analyst with Hallgarten + Company Ltd., specializing in fertilizers, mining projects, and emerging market trends in the resource sector.
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