ASHGABAT (TCA) — A processing plant for production of potassium fertilizers at the Garlyk potassium salt deposit in the Lebap province of Turkmenistan is to be put into operation in the end of March, Turkmenistan: the Golden Age online newspaper reports.
Currently, preparation for the launch of the ore-processing plant, ore and ready-product warehouses, and mining facilities is underway at the construction site.
The project has no analogy in Central Asia, and will produce 1.4 million tons of potash fertilizer per year. The plant will require more than 7 million tons of ore per year to meet the target, Turkmen media earlier reported.
The project is implemented in partnership with Belarus.
In 2010, Belarus and Turkmenistan signed a contract to design and build a mining and processing plant with annual production capacity of 1.4 million tons of potassium chloride.
The large-scale project has involved thousands of specialists and workers both from Belarus and Turkmenistan. In addition, universities and vocational schools in Belarus have trained Turkmen students that will work at the future plant.
The new enterprise will allow not only to meet the needs of the Turkmen agricultural sector for ecologically clean potassium fertilizers but also to export more than a million tons of fertilizer per year.
The project will make a considerable contribution to the economic development of Turkmenistan and will earn much-needed foreign currency for the country.
