Moab Facility

The Moab Mine is located about 20 miles west of Moab, Utah and is distinctive because of the method used to extract the potash. The mine began as a conventional underground mining operation in 1965, but was converted in 1971 to a system combining solution mining to extract the potash and solar evaporation to re-crystallize the product. Intrepid acquired the Moab Mine in 2000 and drilled new vertical wells into previously untapped areas of the old mine and drilled innovative horizontal solution mining caverns into previously untapped potash ore zones. These wells and caverns increase potash production by increasing the area available to solution mining, which allows us to feed more highly saturated potash brine to our solar evaporation ponds.

Solution Mining / Solar Evaporation Process

Water is saturated with salt and the resulting brine is pumped through injection wells into the underground mine workings.  The injected brine preferentially dissolves the potash from layers buried between 2,400 and 4,000 feet below the surface.  As the brine preferentially dissolves the potassium, the double saturated potassium and salt brine becomes heavier than the salt saturated brine causing it to sink to low points in the mining caverns. Extraction wells are installed at the low points to pump the potash rich brine to the surface, where it is placed into 400 acres of shallow evaporation ponds just southwest of the mine. Blue dye, similar to food coloring, is added to the evaporation pond brines, to aid in absorption of sunlight. There, the water, aided by approximately 300 days of sunshine and an average of just five percent relative humidity evaporates, leaving potash and salt crystals in the pond. The evaporation process, requiring only solar energy, is highly environmentally friendly. The solar ponds are lined with HDPE and Hypalon (a synthetic rubber) to prevent the valuable brine from escaping the ponds. The end result of the evaporation process is a bed of potash and salt crystals that is harvested using scrapers adapted from the earth-moving industry. The crystals from the ponds are then sent to a mill where the potash is separated from the salt by a flotation process. The potash and salt are then dried, sorted, and processed into various agricultural, feed, and industrial products, then placed into our substantial warehouse facility at which point the product is ready for sale.

 












For more information on Moab, please visit the following websites:

Moab Utah Area Chamber of Commerce
Moab Utah Tourist Information
Moab Information Center