Reuters | BHP Billiton sees potash as an ideal fit within its portfolio of
commodity products, and the global mining giant is focused on developing
its potash projects in Western Canada into a world-class basin play, a
top executive said on Tuesday.

“Even though we have highlighted the priority areas, we actually do have a number of other areas we plan to explore over the next five years. Our game is to really develop a resource basin for the long term,” said Graham Kerr, the head of BHP’s Diamond and Specialty Products business.

Kerr noted that BHP is focused on investing in assets that are long-life, low-cost and have expandable resources, making its potash projects in the Canadian Prairie province of Saskatchewan an ideal fit for the company’s portfolio.

Earlier this week, BHP released resource data related to Jansen — its flagship potash project in Saskatchewan. Jansen, which is expected to begin production of the fertilizer in 2015, has 3.37 billion tonnes of material that contained 25.4 percent potassium oxide.

Kerr said BHP has also finished all of its exploration work around its Boulder and Young potash projects in the province. The company also controls the Burr potash project, which it acquired earlier this year through its C$341 million ($325 million) takeover of Athabasca Potash.

Kerr, who was speaking at the RBC Capital Markets’ Global Mining and Materials conference in Toronto, noted that the Jansen project will be developed first, followed by the Boulder and Young sites.

BHP plans to develop Jansen into the world’s single largest potash mine with eight million tonnes of annual output.

Kerr said the mine will be developed in three phases, with two million tonnes of capacity being added by each of the two initial phases, followed by four million tonnes of capacity in phase three. The mine is expected to be operating at full capacity by 2025.

Kerr said that BHP expects to receive board approval and the necessary environmental approvals to move the project forward in late 2011.

The three big incumbent producers in Saskatchewan, Potash Corp, Mosaic Co and Agrium Inc are all currently in the midst of expanding their output of the crop nutrient through brownfield expansions that will increase production from existing mines.