Morocco Potash Project: Emmerson seals deals with two Swiss agri-trading groups

The mining company Emmerson announced on Monday it signed with two Swiss agri-trading groups deals for the sale of potash and salt to be produced at its Khemisset Mine in Morocco.

With Keytrade AG, Emmerson agreed to sell a minimum of 245,000 metric tons per year of Muriate of Potash (MOP) for a period of 10 years. With Hexagon Group AG, the London-based company agreed on the sale of a minimum of 245,000 metric tons per year of MOP and a minimum of 500,000 metric tons per year of salt product (NaCl), both for a period of 10 years.

The prices for MOP and NaCl are expected to be derived from the market or as quoted in independent expert reports. The offtake mining agreements are non-exclusive and Emmerson will continue to engage in discussions with other wholesale customers, distributors, and global traders for the remaining production capacity from Khemisset.

Graham Clarke, CEO of Emmerson said: “I am delighted to present our first offtake MoUs to the market as we continue our process of advancing towards construction readiness at Khemisset.” These deals are an important milestone in this process and will account for more than 65% of MOP production and 50% of salt production.

“Underpinning a significant proportion of future potash and salt sales on a take or pay basis is a strong endorsement for the project, de-risking the development for debt and other financiers. They are also a clear signal of the critical importance of potash in the context of international food security, and we look forward to advancing further negotiations as we continue to lay the foundations for establishing Africa’s first commercial potash mine”, underlined Mr. Graham.

Keytrade AG is a large Swiss based agri-trader. It is active in more than 115 countries across the globe with key offices in Zurich, Madrid, Tampa, São Paulo, New Delhi, and Beijing amongst others.

Hexagon Group AG is commodity trading company that specializes in trading, marketing, and logistics in the area of bulk fertilizers and commodities for a wide range of different industries.