Tata Chemicals acquires 32.9 pc stake in US-based EPM

The company's US subsidiary Valley Holdings Inc has acquired 32.9 per cent stake in EPM Mining Ventures for an undisclosed sum.. EPM holds the lease of 95,172 acres which was granted during the organised leasing process by the US government's potash lease auction. It has 40 per cent stake in Emerald Peak Minerals, which controls 6,409 acres of land leased from the State of Utah and is contiguous to its land. EPM is in the process of developing the world-class Suplhate of potash prospect in Sevier Lake, Utah, USA.

Tata Chemicals’s subsidiary has acquired these common shares of EPM after completion of amalgamation between EPM and Yukon. Prior to the amalgamation, Valley Holdings held 1,66,77,612 common shares in the capital of Yukon acquired at a price of 0.67 Canadian dollar in cash per share..

Potash - a soil nutrient - commands spot prices of about $500 a tonne, compared to $430 per tonne last year. ndia, the world's second largest importer of potash after China, has been negotiating with global potash miner groups seeking at least 10 percent discounts on the current spot prices. While global potash demand is about 50 million tonnes, India buys about 5-5.5 million tonnes of the soil nutrient every year.

Along with Tata Chemicals, India's major potash importers are Indian Potash Ltd, IFFCO, Coromandel International and Zuari Industries , which together account for almost 90 percent of the country's imports. Eight companies currently control more than 80 percent of global potash supply: Potash Corp of Saskatchewan , Mosaic Co , Agrium Inc , K+S , Uralkali , Silvinit, Belaruskali, and Israel Chemicals.crackcrack