COMPANY BACKGROUND
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016
Text Block [Abstract]  
COMPANY BACKGROUND
COMPANY BACKGROUND
We are the only producer of muriate of potash ("potassium chloride" or "potash") in the United States and one of two producers of langbeinite ("sulfate of potash magnesia"), which we market and sell as Trio®. We sell potash and Trio® primarily into the agricultural market as a fertilizer. We also sell these products into the animal feed market as a nutritional supplement and sell potash into the industrial market as a component in drilling and fracturing fluids for oil and gas wells and other industrial inputs. Our revenues are generated exclusively from the sale of potash and Trio®. We also produce salt and magnesium chloride from our mining processes, the sales of which are accounted for as by-product credits to our cost of sales. These by-product credits represented approximately 2% to 3% of total cost of goods sold in each of the last three years.
We produce potash from three solution mining facilities and until the second quarter of 2016 we also produced potash from two conventional underground mining facilities. Our solution mining production comes from our HB solar solution mine near Carlsbad, New Mexico, a solar solution mine near Moab, Utah, and a solar brine recovery mine in Wendover, Utah. Our conventional production of potash came from our underground West and East mines near Carlsbad, New Mexico. We also operate the North compaction facility near Carlsbad, New Mexico, which services the HB mine and previously serviced the West mine. We produce Trio® from our conventional underground East mine.
In April 2016, we converted our East facility from a mixed-ore facility that produced both potash and Trio® to a Trio®-only facility. We completed our commissioning activities related to that transition in the third quarter of 2016. Subsequent to the transition, we no longer produce potash at our East facility.
In early July 2016, we idled mining operations at our West facility and transitioned it into a care-and-maintenance mode due to the decline in potash prices. Accordingly, beginning in July 2016, all of our potash is produced from our three solution mining facilities.