By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN

Michigan Correspondent

EVART, Mich. — Construction is expected to start this summer on a potash manufacturing plant near Evart – the Michigan Potash & Salt Co. (MPSC), LLC and Barton Malow Co., the largest general contractor in the state, have completed a definitive agreement for the engineering, procurement, and construction of the Michigan Potash and Salt facility in Osceola County.

A presidential order was issued in December 2018 to ensure secure and reliable U.S. supplies of 35 critical and strategic minerals, including potash, a natural potassium fertilizer needed by farmers to reduce water needs, improve farming sustainability, and improve crop yield.

It is considered the only strategic and critical mineral responsible for national food security and agricultural welfare. The United States currently imports more than 95 percent of its potash needs, principally from Russia, Belarus, and Canada, from four companies.

Ward Forquer, vice president of Potash Sales and Marketing with MPSC, said the venture has been in the works since MPSC was established in 2011. “We did mine potash in Michigan for 20 years. That company elected to close down the potash production facility.

“Basically, we are recreating the potash industry here in Michigan,” said Forquer, who was involved with the previous manufacturing company for about 22 years.

“Most of the guys on our team are former employees, too. We have the expertise. We know what needs to be done and how it needs to be done. We’re taking all the experience from lessons learned over all those years, and we’re going to start all over again.”

The MPSC facility is critically located in the U.S. agriculture demand center of consumption, and therefore lends immediate infrastructural and distribution strength to U.S. fertilizer networks, which is mandated by the U.S. Defense Production Act. Soybean, corn, sugar beet, and potato farmers are some of the largest potash-dependent growers.

MPSC began ground clearing and infrastructure improvements this winter, including power and road upgrades in partnership with infrastructural providers servicing Osceola County. Forquer said as soon as financing is complete, construction will get started.

MPSC’s potash manufacturing process uses a highly purifying water recycling system that is nearly 90 percent water recycle efficient. Potash ore in Michigan is accessed by circulating water and brine over 1.5 miles underground. The process dissolves the potash and salt, which is pumped back to the surface.

“The water is boiled off it, crystallizing the potash and salt,” Forquer explained.

As the brine cools, the salt falls out at one temperature and the potash, at another: “It’s a chemical separation. Then it goes through a process of drying, screening, and compacting to get to the desired product size.”

Food-grade saleable salt is a co-product of the MPSC manufacturing process and provides additional revenue streams that offset operating cost, which are already the world’s lowest net delivered to the Corn Belt.

“The potash deposit in Michigan is huge,” Forquer said. “The facility will provide a dependable supply of the highest-quality potash available and we won’t be at risk for any trade negotiations, railroad strikes, or other things that can happen in Russia and Canada, where most of our product comes from.”

Together, Barton Malow and MPSC will create approximately 260 direct construction jobs over a three-year period, and approximately 150 direct full-time skilled trade jobs upon commissioning of the facility. The project is projected to deliver shared royalty, increase the industrial tax base, and reinvest sustaining capital of upward of $60 million every year.

“This facility will positively impact agriculture in the United States for many years to come,” said Chuck Binkowski, chief operating officer for Barton Malow Co.

Melora Theunick, executive director of the Local Development Finance Authority (LDFA) for the city of Evart, said the facility will breathe new life into an area that has been economically depressed since it lost a dairy processing facility a few years ago.

“This will be a huge economic stimulus for the area,” she said. “It will be phenomenal. These kinds of jobs coming into the area, which is somewhat depressed for wages and jobs, will mean the world to everyone here.

“When we lost the dairy processing facility, quite a few people moved out of the community, so it impacted the whole community, including the school. We lost probably close to 200 families with the fallout.”

Theunick said the community is working on housing and workforce development to support the company as its project moves forward.

“This will be just a huge benefit for the whole area. These will be very well-paying jobs. They’re willing to educate people and train them for the jobs. Local people will be able to take advantage of this and it will change their lives and their families’ lives. It will be a huge shot in the arm for the entire community,” she added.

Barton Malow and MPSC said they share a similar value of advancing the well-being of the rural community in and around Evart. The initial $750 million investment will unlock a generational gain for the region, with a project life capable of spanning more than 150 years.