Overview

Mine Type	In-Situ
Status	Active
Commodities	Potash
Mining Method	Solution mining Room-and-pillar
Production Start	...
Mine Life	...
Snapshot	The Intrepid Potash–New Mexico property (IPMN) includes two operating mines, the East Underground and HB Solution Mines, one idled mine, the West Mine and the North Mine which was shut down in the early 1980’s. The life of the resources and reserves at IPNM exceeds 25 years. Potash is produced at three enterprises for the extraction of solar evaporation solution. One of them is the HB slurry mine in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Northern Compaction Plant compacts and pellets product from the HB mine.

Deposit type

• Evaporite

Summary:

Deposit Type The geology of the potash-bearing beds of the Carlsbad area has been well documented. Overall, the potash-bearing beds may be described as bedded sedimentary rocks, deposited across the Delaware Basin and Northwest Shelf backreef from the Capitan Reef. The depositional sequences that developed in the Salado Formation consist of repetitive cycles that can be recognized by changes inmineralogy, sedimentary textures, and structures. Two types of cycles are differentiated Type I and Type II. A complete Type I cycle rangesin thickness from 3 ft to 33 ft and consists of (in ascending order): • A basal, mixed siliciclastic and carbonate mudstone • Laminated to massive anhydrite-polyhalite • Halite • Halite with mud (argillaceous halite) Type II is a thinner, less complete sequence and consists of halite that grades upward into argillaceous halite (Lowenstein 1988).The anhydrite-polyhalite beds are laterally continuous over large distances and are used as marker beds for correlation. Potash beds arenot included in these sequences because potash is secondary and formed later than the basic depositional sequence. The HB Mine, which was formerly mined on the 1 and 3 ore zones (Barker and Austin 1999),has been flooded and is currently being solution mined with brines to obtain potash from the remaining pillars. Mineralization In the Carlsbad Area, the potassium minerals, in order of decreasing abundance, are polyhalite, sylvite, carnallite, langbeinite,kainite, and leonite. Other potassium minerals occur only in minor amounts in association with the principal potassium minerals listedpreviously. The minerals can be described as follows (Schaller and Henderson 1932): • Polyhalite is the most abundant potassium mineral in the Carlsbad Area. Beds of nearly pure polyhalite have thicknesses up to 8 ftand beds a foot or more thick are numerous. • Sylvite often has a dark red or reddish-brown color due to hematite inclusions. Sylvite without the inclusions is a milky white color.Sylvite is typically mixed with halite and where clay is present in the mixture, it is in bands distinct from the sylvite. • Carnallite is massive and compact showing no crystal faces. Crystals where seen are typically less than 1 millimeter (mm) indiameter. It occurs in small blebs with halite and sylvite. • Langbeinite is found in distinct tetrahedral crystals that reach sizes up to ¾ inch. It is typically associated with halite and sylvite andoften some kieserite. It has a distinct pink color in most samples and has a higher compressive strength than sylvite. • Kainite is massive with poorly developed fibrous fracture surfaces and has a characteristic honey-yellow color. It is found in narrowbands between sylvite and langbeinite and is apparently a result of a reaction between the two. • Leonite is typically found in small quantities in mixtures of other minerals, notably kainite and sylvite. Its color ranges fromcolorless to pale yellow. It is also found with polyhalite and anhydrite, but the relationship is unclear. It has also been found as asecondary replacement for kieserite.

Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Processing

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Production

Commodity	Units	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015
Potash	k tons	....	....	....	158	150	172	124	134

Operational metrics

Metrics	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015
Annual production capacity	....	....	....	180 k tons of potash salt	180 k tons of potash salt	180 k tons of potash salt	180 k tons of potash salt	180 k tons of potash salt
Ore tonnes mined	....	....	....	734 k tons	679 k tons	728 k tons	587 k tons	695 k tons

Personnel

Job Title	Name	Profile	Ref. Date
.......................	.......................		Mar 15, 2023
.......................	.......................		Mar 15, 2023