BHP Billiton Selects Washington Site for Potash Export Center

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas--The world's largest mining company, BHP Billiton Limited (NYSE:BHP) (Melbourne, Australia), is negotiating the terms of a lease with officials from the Port of Vancouver (Vancouver, Washington) to use land to build a potash export center.

The port's Terminal 5 has been selected as the "preferred site" for the planned 487,000-square-foot, 8 million-ton-per-year potash export complex.

Representatives from both companies hope to finalize a short-term lease within the next six to eight months so that BHP can retain a 60-acre section of the port's 218-acre Terminal 5 for the construction of the potash export center. While details of the short-term lease are still in the works, some port officials have stated BHP could pay as much as $750,000 per year to reserve the land before construction starts. The short-term lease will remain in effect until a long-term lease is established or BHP decides to cancel the project. The lease agreement will need to be approved by the company and the port's board of commissioners.

The cost of the project remains a gray area. The export center is expected to create at least 60 permanent jobs. The investment value has not been officially released by BHP, but company and port officials have stated off the record that it could be between $200 million and $300 million. This amount is subject to change, especially if details of the lease agreement or project scope change.

The proposed export center will store and export potash, a mineral fertilizer for crops. The complex is being designed to allow for future expansions. The facility will include material-handling equipment, storage, dock and rail operations. BHP will ship potash by rail to the port, from where it will be shipped to Asia. Most of the potash coming through the export center will be coming from BHP's $2 billion proposed underground potash mine and mill project in Jansen, Saskatchewan, which is expected to produce 8 million tons per year of compacted granular potash.

WorleyParsons Canada Infrastructure & Environmental (North Vancouver, British Columbia), a subsidiary of WorleyParsons Limited (ASX:WOR) (North Sidney, Australia), has been retained by BHP to head up the design and engineering of the proposed potash export facility.

Construction of the project is expected to begin in September 2012 and take about two and half years to complete, with operations beginning in April 2015.

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