K&S : Symbolic Commissioning Start of Legacy

24 August 2016

New potash plant in Canada

The commissioning of Legacy is underway.To particularly appreciate this exceptionally important step for the project, yesterday - during a visit to the site by the Supervisory Board and Board of Executive Directors -Dr. Ralf Bethke, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, and Norbert Steiner, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, together with Dr. Ulrich Lamp, President and CEO of K+S Potash Canada, symbolically pressed the start button.

'Legacy will make an important contribution to the future viability of K+S. The new plant will ensure that the company has access to high-grade resources for generations and will strengthen the position of K+S on the international potash market sustainably,' says Dr. Ralf Bethke, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of K+S Aktiengesellschaft.

The Supervisory Board and Board of Executive Directors of K+S are currently on site to gain an overview of current and upcoming work connected with the realization of the Legacy Project. Despite damage to a process vessel in July, the commissioning of plant facilities that were unaffected by the damage is continuing without change.

From today's point of view, production of the first tonne of potash should start in the second quarter of 2017 and not at the end of 2016 as originally planned. Regardless of this, K+S is still assuming to reach its target production capacity of two million tonnes at the end of 2017.

Legacy will be one of the most modern potash plants in the world and is the largest individual project in the history of K+S. 'Legacy will greatly strengthen our international competitiveness, which will ultimately benefit the entire K+S Group,' says Norbert Steiner, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of K+S Aktiengesellschaft. 'Legacy will enable us to participate in future market growth while at the same time allowing us to considerably reduce average production costs.'

K+S wants to use the products made at the Legacy site to supply customers in North America, South America and Asia in the future, and to thus tap into markets where the company is not yet adequately present today.

Currently, more than 4,000 people are working at the construction site near Regina, the provincial capital of Saskatchewan. At the end of the construction phase, about 450 jobs will be created in Canada in total.

'Our on-site team is doing an outstanding job. Everybody is highly motivated and pulling together to optimally complete the tasks that still lie ahead of us,' said Dr. Ulrich Lamp, President and CEO of K+S Potash Canada (KSPC).

Alongside the ongoing completion of the interior of the facility, 54 caverns - each of which is as large as the Allianz-Arena stadium in Munich - are gradually being created at a depth of 1,500 meters in all six well fields of the Legacy Project. The construction of the railroad connection for the Vancouver route is proceeding according to plan.

Further information about the Legacy Project

About K+S

K+S is an international resources company. We have been mining and processing mineral raw materials for more than 125 years. The products we produce from them are used worldwide in agriculture, food and road safety and are important elements in numerous industrial processes. Potash and salt are integral nutrients for the megatrend of a constantly growing and increasingly prosperous global population striving for a higher standard of living. This will result in increasing consumption of mineral resources. We serve the resulting growth in demand from production sites in Europe, North America and South America as well as through a global distribution network. K+S is the world's largest salt producer and one of the top potash providers worldwide. With more than 14,000 employees, K+S achieved revenues in financial year 2015 of about € 4.2 billion and an EBIT of € 782 million. Learn more about K+S at www.k-plus-s.com.

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