Potassium is the seventh most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust and the lightest after only lithium. Its elemental form is silvery in colour and soft enough to cut with a knife, but as it is highly chemically reactive, it does not naturally occur in its elemental form.¹https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/element/Potassium#section=Historical-Isotopic-Abundances Common potassium compounds are typically salts, including potassium chloride (KCl) and various carbonates, nitrates, and sulphates.²https://www.britannica.com/science/potassium/Principal-compounds-and-reactions-with-other-elements Potassium is also an essential macronutrient for humans that is necessary for the maintenance and growth of tissues, muscles, and organs. The vast majority of potassium is used to manufacture fertilisers, but it can also be used to produce detergents, dyes, explosives, glass, and solvents.³https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/our-natural-resources/minerals-mining/minerals-metals-facts/potash-facts/20521,⁴https://www.britannica.com/technology/chemical-industry/Potassium

Potassium-bearing minerals and refined potassium products, such as fertilisers, are generally referred to as potash.⁵https://www2.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsuk/download/planning_factsheets/mpf_potash.pdf Potash generally contains between 20 and 35 percent of KCl, with the remainder primarily composed of other potassium salts.⁶https://fertechinform.org/knowledgebase/potash-mining/ The ores are most commonly mined to obtain potassium compounds are sylvite, carnallite, kainite, langbeinite, and polyhalite.⁷https://www.apni.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Rahm01.pdf

Potassium production and reserves are not consistently reported with the same methodology for each country, so the volumes are usually stated in terms of the equivalent amount of potassium oxide (K₂O). Canada, Russia, and Belarus accounted for approximately 70% of the world’s potash production in 2022, with Brazil and Canada holding the largest known reserves, each with an estimated 1.1 billion tonnes of K₂O equivalent. Israel and Jordan both recover potash from the huge reserves of potassium salts in the Dead Sea, which contains approximately 2 billion tonners of KCl.

Public information on ESG issues in the potassium supply chain is limited, with only low materiality ESG issues identified. The most notable issue identified relates to the exploration of the recently discovered largest potash deposit in Brazil, in which a Canadian-owned mining company is drilling on or near land that is owned by the indigenous Mura people in the state of Amazonas. Local residents allege that logging and drilling is being carried out without their full, prior and informed consent, however the formal legal designation of the affected land as an indigenous territory is unclear.⁸https://dialogochino.net/en/extractive-industries/53258-amazon-potash-mining-firm-accused-coercing-indigenous-groups-exploit/