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Like swimming pools in the desert, the evaporation ponds of the Intrepid Potash mine near Moab, Utah, are actually Colorado River water that has been injected into a deposit of potassium chloride beneath the Paradox Basin and then pumped into man-made reservoirs where they are dyed blue to speed evaporation. The potassium and salt left behind is used in fertilizers and livestock feed supplements. Potassium is one of the three primary nutrients necessary for plant growth, along with nitrogen and phosphorus, and thus a critical element in agricultural fertilizer that is responsible for an estimated 40 to 60 percent of global crop yields. While nitrogen is synthesized from natural gas, potassium and phosphorus are mined from a few large deposits around the world. Canada is the global leader in potash by far, but recent embargoes of Russia and Belarus, the second- and third-largest producers, have led to price and supply shocks in many parts of the world. The US Geological Survey estimates the Paradox Basin contains some 2 billion tons of potash, enough alone to supply the world’s needs many times over, but most of that is too deep or too difficult to mine at current prices. The Intrepid mine produces about 100,000 tons each year.

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Like swimming pools in the desert, the evaporation ponds of the Intrepid Potash mine near Moab, Utah, are actually Colorado River water that has been injected into a deposit of potassium chloride beneath the Paradox Basin and then pumped into man-made reservoirs where they are dyed blue to speed evaporation. The potassium and salt left behind is used in fertilizers and livestock feed supplements. Potassium is one of the three primary nutrients necessary for plant growth, along with nitrogen and phosphorus, and thus a critical element in agricultural fertilizer that is responsible for an estimated 40 to 60 percent of global crop yields. While nitrogen is synthesized from natural gas, potassium and phosphorus are mined from a few large deposits around the world. Canada is the global leader in potash by far, but recent embargoes of Russia and Belarus, the second- and third-largest producers, have led to price and supply shocks in many parts of the world. The US Geological Survey estimates the Paradox Basin contains some 2 billion tons of potash, enough alone to supply the world’s needs many times over, but most of that is too deep or too difficult to mine at current prices. The Intrepid mine produces about 100,000 tons each year.

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