Michigan Potash & Salt Company and Barton Malow Company complete Engineering, Procurement and Construction Agreement for the United States Potash Project in Michigan
EVART, Mich., March 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Michigan Potash & Salt Company, LLC ("Michigan Potash & Salt Company, LLC" or the "Company") (MPSC) and Barton Malow Company, the largest general contractor in Michigan, (Barton Malow or BMC) are pleased to announce that they have materially completed a definitive agreement for the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction of the Michigan Potash and Salt facility in Western Rural Michigan.
Barton Malow is the largest union trade employer in the State of Michigan and self performs numerous trades, including boilermakers, iron workers, riggers, millwrights, carpenters, and laborers. Founded in 1924, the Barton Malow Company has significant and well-established relationships throughout Michigan's labor force.
Barton Malow and MPSC have worked collectively as a team over the last four years to advance the engineering, procurement, and construction schedule of the USA's premier potash manufacturing facility to be located in Evart Township, which is home to the world's highest-grade potash ore. "MPSC and Barton Malow have advanced the technical and management documentation to a level that is much further defined compared to other similar projects," said Rick Helper, EPC Program Manager for MPSC. "We are pleased to work with Barton Malow. They have a proven capability to safely and effectively deliver large projects in Michigan and the greater United States."
A presidential order was issued in December to ensure secure and reliable US supplies of 35 critical and strategic minerals, including potash, which is an all-natural potassium fertilizer needed by farmers to reduce water needs, improve farming sustainability, and improve crop yield. It is the only strategic and critical mineral responsible for national food security and agricultural welfare. The United States currently imports over 95% of its potash needs, principally from Russia, Belarus, and Canada from four companies.
The MPSC facility is critically located in the United States' agriculture demand center of consumption, and therefore lends immediate infrastructural and distribution strength to US fertilizer networks, which is mandated by the United States Defense Production Act. Soybean, corn, sugar beet, and potato farmers are some of the largest potash dependent growers.
MPSC began ground clearing and infrastructure improvements this winter, including power and road upgrades in partnership with infrastructural providers servicing Osceola County.
MPSC's potash manufacturing process uses a highly purifying water recycling system that is near 90% water recycle efficient. Potash ore in Michigan is accessed by circulating water and brine over 1.5 miles underground, and utilizes green geothermal energy and combined heat and power technology. This enables an efficient, low cost, means of fertilizer manufacturing. Food grade saleable salt is a co-product advantage of the MPSC manufacturing process and provides additional revenue streams that offset operating cost, which are already the world's lowest net delivered to the corn belt.
Barton Malow and MPSC share a similar value of advancing the wellbeing of the rural community in and around Evart, Michigan, which is in an economically distressed rural community. The initial $750 million-dollar investment unlocks a generational gain for the region, with a project life capable of spanning over 150 years.
Together, Barton Malow and MPSC will create approximately 260 direct construction jobs over a 3-year period, and an approximate 150 direct full-time skilled trade jobs will be created upon commissioning of the facility. The project delivers shared royalty, increases the industrial tax base, and reinvests sustaining capital of upwards of sixty million dollars every year.
"Barton Malow is thrilled to be partnered with MPSC on this extraordinary project," said Chuck Binkowski, Chief Operating Officer for Barton Malow Company. "This facility will positively impact agriculture in the United States for many years to come."
A completed potash facility will help stem the USA's current import reliance on potash and would turn Michigan into the nation's leading domestic source for this critical agricultural resource.
About Michigan Potash & Salt Company
As identified by the United States Geological Survey, Michigan Potash and Salt Company is an emergent natural resource player sitting on a purported $65 billion dollar, tier 1 potash reserve. Entrepreneurially founded in 2011, Michigan Potash & Salt Company, LLC is a privately-owned company responsibly controlling over 150 million tons of recoverable K2O product in the US corn belt, leading America into a new era of sustainable, low cost, domestic potash production.
Please visit our website at www.mipotash.com.
About Barton Malow Company
Barton Malow builds throughout North America in market specialties that include commercial, industrial, education, energy, healthcare, sports and more. The company's 95-year history as a 100% American-owned contractor began in Detroit, Michigan and has expanded today to 2,000 employees across 15 offices and hundreds of jobsites.
SOURCE Michigan Potash & Salt Company, LLC
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