Category: North America

Heartland Sulphur says that it has debottlenecked its crushed bulk sulphur remelting operations, increasing capacity by 40%. Heartland says that the increase boosts the company’s sulphur handling efficiency and service capability for producers and buyers. It has also completed a full feasibility study and retained engineering partners to add an additional 1,000 t/d of sulphur remelt capacity, slated to be fully operational by yearend 2026. Heartland Sulphur can form 4,500 t/d for offshore markets, transport molten sulphur by tank car to destinations across North America, and accept and condition sulphur in both molten and solid states. The company’s existing remelt capacity stands at 700 t/d and is projected to reach a total of 1,700 t/d (560,000 t/a) by the end of 2026.

Arianne Phosphate says that the government of Canada has approved contribution funding of up to C$735,000 to support the company’s ongoing work on processing phosphate rock and optimising its purified phosphoric acid (PPA) process. The funding, provided through Natural Resources Canada’s Critical Minerals Research, Development and Demonstration programme, is part of a C$80.3 million investment announced by Prime Minister Mark Carney to help build secure critical minerals supply chains in Canada. Phosphate was added to the Canadian critical mineral list in 2024. Arianne’s Lac à Paul project is the only fully permitted phosphate mine in the country. Arianne is now actively pursuing opportunities for the downstream production of PPA, a necessary ingredient for lithium-iron-phosphate batteries.

World Energy GH2 has shelved its 1.2 GW green hydrogen and ammonia project in Stephenville, Newfoundland, after failing to secure offtake agreements. Project Nujio’qonik was conceived as a major green hydrogen/ammonia scheme backed by 2 GW of new wind capacity, intended to export green ammonia to Europe. However, despite a $50 million investment from South Korea’s SK Eco-plant and high-profile endorsement by then German chancellor Olaf Scholz, the developer has confirmed that the project is being replaced by a new initiative, called Clean Grid Atlantic, which will use the wind resource to power domestic markets instead.

Air Water Gas Solutions, a subsidiary of Air Water America, will build an air separation unit to support the production of 1.1 million t/a of blue methanol at Sandpiper Chemicals’ blue methanol facility in the US. The low carbon methanol producer has contracted Air Water to design, build, and operate the ASU to provide oxygen, nitrogen, and instrument air for blue methanol production. The project is still at the pre-final investment decision (FID) stage, with production targeted for 2030.

Woodside Energy says that its Beaumont New Ammonia (BNA) facility in southeast Texas has begun production of ammonia following the completion of systems testing, representing the first phase of operations commissioning of the facility. Commercial production of ammonia from BNA is expected to begin following the handover to Woodside Energy from OCI Global in early 2026. Production of lower-carbon ‘blue’ ammonia is targeted to start in the second half of 2026. Woodside says it has also finalised agreements with leading global customers to supply significant volumes of conventional ammonia from the BNA facility. Deliveries will commence in 2026 and continue through year-end, under contracts that reflect prevailing market prices. Additional agreements are being advanced to align with expected BNA output, including for lower-carbon ammonia.

The Mosaic Company has sold its Mosaic Potash Carlsbad business in New Mexico to newly-formed company International Minerals Carlsbad for $30 million.

The US ended ‘reciprocal tariffs’ on fertilizer imports on 14th November.

A consortium consisting of TotalEnergies, Osaka Gas, Toho Gas, and ITOCHU have signed a joint development and operating agreement, granting the Japanese companies a combined 33.3% stake in the Live Oak project – a large-scale facility to produce renewable synthetic natural gas, also referred to as e-NG or e-methane, initiated by TES and TotalEnergies and currently under development in Nebraska. Following the agreement, TES and TotalEnergies will each maintain a 33.35 % stake in the project.

Potash and phosphate have been added to the updated 2025 List of Critical Minerals published in the US Federal Register on 6th November.

In this CRU Insight, Humphrey Knight assesses the key market factors driving high SOP pricing.