Fertilizer International 528 Sep-Oct 2025
15 September 2025
Mosaic agrees to sell Taquari potash mine
The Mosaic Company announced an agreement to sell Mosaic Potassio Mineração Ltda (MPM) to VL Mineração Ltda on 13th August.
MPM is the Mosaic subsidiary company that operates the company’s Taquari-Vassouras potash mine in Rosário do Catete, Sergipe, Brazil.
VL Mineração will pay Mosaic up to $27 million in cash for the potash mine. This includes $12 million upon closing, $10 million one year after closing and $5 million over six years. The new owner will also assume responsibility for approximately $22 million in asset retirement obligations (AROs).
To ensure its continued viability, Mosaic would have needed to invest more than $25 million in the Taquari mine – capital that it says, “has more attractive uses elsewhere within the company”. VL Mineração, in contrast, has expressed a strong interest in making the necessary investments to extend Taquari’s operations, for the benefit of the economy, employees and the community locally.
“One of our priorities is to elevate our core business, and one way to do that is by reallocating capital to ensure we’re investing where we have the greatest capacity to succeed. This sale advances progress toward that priority – allowing us to focus capital on opportunities where we have a competitive advantage and are expected to generate higher returns,” said Bruce Bodine, Mosaic’s president and CEO.
“This agreement allows us to contribute to the development of Brazilian agriculture, including maintaining and expanding the domestic potash supply in the fertilizer market, as we are confident the mine will be profitable and efficient under our ownership and operating model,” said Daniel Moreira, CEO of VL Holding.
Mosaic expects the transaction to close by the end of 2025. The sale is, however, subject to approval by the Brazilian Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) and other customary closing conditions. The company says that, from the third quarter of 2025 onwards, it will record the asset as ‘held for sale’ with an expected book loss of $50-$70 million.
