Explore the Bethune Site
See where growth is happening today, and how key projects are supporting our operations, our people, and our community.
K+S Mining Solutions Expansion Map
Explore how K+S is increasing production through strategic improvements. This interactive map highlights key stages of the mining process and the new facilities being added to support it.
Click the numbered points to learn how each stage, and each new building, helps move materials more efficiently from extraction through processing. Follow the process step-by-step to see how these upgrades support greater productivity and the future growth of the site.
Power and Energy
Our growth plan includes two major projects related to power and energy upgrades: cogeneration (1) and power distribution (2) infrastructure.
Our cogeneration facility will utilize two new gas turbines (paired with our existing unit) to generate the equivalent of our total power usage on site. The turbines also produce waste heat that will be directly integrated into our mining process. This facility improves process and resource use efficiency and sets us up well for potential future carbon-reducing technologies.
Power Distribution infrastructure needs to be upgraded to meet the increased power demand as new projects and equipment come online. This project will include both improvements and additions to existing electrical facilities.
Non-Process
Non-process refers to required infrastructure that doesn’t process or refine product but is still needed to manage increased production at Bethune mine.
The growth projects within non-process scope include expansion of our fertilizer storage warehouse (9) and fines storage (12) facilities; a new rail and mobile equipment maintenance shop; expansion of loadout infrastructure (10); and additional rail cars (11) to transport our product to market.
Dry Process
The dry process is solution mining includes various processes that dry the potash and form it according to product specification. To increase production at Bethune mine, we need to finish more product, which requires expanding our infrastructure to handle increased processing volume.
The growth projects within the dry process include compaction expansion (3) and the addition of another centrifuge and dryer (4). Compaction expansion is the single largest project in the Ramp-Up scope and is designed with scalability in mind to support continued production increase over the next decade.
Both of these projects contribute to reducing bottlenecks and additional dry processing capacity.
Wet Process
The wet process in solution mining includes various processes that separate the product from the brine that’s been extracted from caverns in the wellfield. To increase production at Bethune mine, we need to process more brine, which means expanding our infrastructure to handle increased volume.
The growth projects within the wet process include adding a salt dissolution tank (6); adding a secondary mining injection (SMI) tank (5) and increasing pumping capacity (7); expanding our cooling ponds and building a new cooling pond pumphouse (14). These projects contribute to reducing bottlenecks and adding wet process capacity for both primary and secondary mining.
Explore Our Growth
Learn more about our projects, progress, and how we’re growing responsibly.
