The alternative is very expensive... a spare US$8-10bn...

The alternative is very expensive... a spare US$8-10bn anyone?

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Rio potash asset right next to BHP
Staff Reporter 5 hours ago

Mining giant Rio Tinto has a big potash deposit in the same Saskatchewan basin where rival BHP Billiton is spending $US3.8 billion ($A4.2bn) just to be prepared to mine the mineral when the anticipated fertiliser production spike kicks in.

The Australian reports in Rio Tinto’s annual strategic report of 2013 the miner describes the KP405 potash discovery as the eighth “tier-one” discovery in the past decade from its exploration group.

"Drilling results indicate encouraging potash grade and thickness," Rio said, according to the newspaper.

The reason why the true significance of the discovery appears to have been somewhat hidden until now, at least to the Australian audience, is that Rio didn’t fill in the details on KP405 as rival BHP Billiton adopts the ‘Aussie potash’ title.

But Rio’s partner Acron, from Russia, has filled in the details, revealing the deposit has inferred resources of 1.4 billion tonnes of potash with an average grade of 31%.

The Australian reports that this compares to BHP’s 6.6 billion tonnes of total resources at an average grade of 26%.