Buffalo Potash Corporation has laid out a detailed roadmap toward its first commercial output, unveiling plans for an initial production module at its Disley property that the company hopes will mark the opening act of a much larger potash operation in one of the world’s most productive mining regions.
The junior developer said the module, designed to produce 125,000 tonnes per year of soluble-grade potash, is targeting first production in the first quarter of 2027. It represents the first of three planned facilities at the Disley Project, which sits roughly 50 kilometres northwest of Regina and borders two of the largest producing potash solution mines on the planet, K+S’s Bethune mine and Mosaic’s Belle Plaine operation. Buffalo has cited the success of those neighbouring projects as evidence of the site’s promise.
The plan reflects a deliberate strategy of starting small. Rather than pursue the full scale of the Disley Project from the outset, which, at complete build-out, could produce more than a million tonnes of potash annually across three facilities, Buffalo is opting for a lower-cost initial phase intended to generate early cash flow while collecting the geological data needed to support a future feasibility study.
Steve Halabura, the company’s chief executive officer, said the initial module was designed to accomplish three things: establish early commercial production, generate data to support development of the project’s larger phases, and prove out the company’s proprietary Horizontal Line-Drive mining method at a commercial scale. Halabura pointed to a recently completed financing round as giving the company the balance-sheet strength to move forward and said a drill rig is set to mobilize to the site in July 2026.
Quinton Hardage, Buffalo’s president and chief operating officer, framed the technical ambitions of the project in more sweeping terms, describing the company’s approach as one that could reshape how potash is solution-mined by targeting only the highest-grade minerals in the deposit, which would simplify processing on the surface.
“We are happy to have reached this stage of development. The technical team is now assembled, and it is time to execute on our vision of creating a mining plane that is anticipated to allow Buffalo to only recover the high-grade minerals from the potash deposit, thus greatly simplifying the processing requirements on surface,” said Hardage in a press release.
The development plan itself unfolds in five phases: drilling wells to source and dispose of the water and brine used in the mining process; drilling the horizontal wells that form the core of the company’s technology; circulating brine to dissolve potassium-bearing minerals underground; developing the surface site; and finally, installing the processing plant that will crystallize, dry, and bag the finished product.
Buffalo has also been building out its broader corporate profile. Alongside the production roadmap, the company disclosed that it has engaged Global One Media Group, a Singapore-based investor marketing firm, to help produce digital investor content and expand the company’s visibility among investors in North America, Europe, and Asia. The arrangement is set to run for an initial six-month term beginning July 1.
The announcement comes on the heels of a preliminary economic assessment released in May, which estimated the full Disley Project could be worth roughly $1.1 billion on an after-tax basis, with an internal rate of return near 30 per cent. That analysis, prepared by the engineering firm Micon International, will serve as the foundation for the feasibility study the company hopes to advance as data from its initial wells comes in.
Still, Buffalo has been careful to temper expectations. The company noted that its production decision was not based on a feasibility study demonstrating the economic and technical viability of the project’s mineral reserves – a distinction that carries a higher degree of risk – and cautioned that there is no guarantee the initial module, or the larger Disley build-out, will proceed as currently envisioned
.For now, the company’s attention turns to the drill rig arriving next month, the first concrete step in what it has called the most active period in its history.
“We anticipate the IPM will produce soluble grade potash that we intend to sell into local markets – including drilling fluid and proximal agricultural applications – which we anticipate will provide an early revenue foundation as we advance toward full commercial scale at Disley,” said Halabura in a press release. “With the drill rig mobilizing to site in July and first production targeted for Q1 2027, the months ahead will be the most active in the company’s history.”
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