DENVER; December 10, 2012 - Intrepid Potash Inc. (Intrepid) (NYSE:IPI) today announced that on December 3, 2012, the U.S. Department of the Interior issued an updated Secretarial Order governing the administration of the federal mineral resources - both potash and oil and gas - in the Secretary's Designated Potash Area. This 497,000-acre region outside of Carlsbad, New Mexico, includes all of Intrepid's New Mexico operations and facilities. Secretarial Orders governing the nation's only strategic potash reserve have been in place since 1939 and provide guidance to the Bureau of Land Management and industry on the development of both the potash and oil and gas resources. The most recent Secretarial Order was issued in 1986.
"The new Secretarial Order is a product of Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's vision and leadership," said Bob Jornayvaz, Intrepid's Executive Chairman of the Board. "At the start of the year, Secretary Salazar challenged the potash and oil and gas industries to work cooperatively to propose a framework for the safe and orderly co-development of both of these important national resources. After months of extensive discussions, a Joint Industry Technical Committee proposed modifications to the 1986 Secretarial Order designed to meet these objectives and, thereby, to reduce conflict over resource development in the Secretary's Designated Potash Area. We are extremely pleased that the Department of the Interior, after its own extensive internal review and evaluation of public comments, has issued a new Secretarial Order that gave consideration to the recommendations from the Joint Industry Technical Committee. This is an historic achievement that paves a path forward for the potash and oil and gas industries to work cooperatively to develop their respective resources in a safe and orderly manner."
As the largest producer of potash in the U.S., Intrepid is dedicated to the production and marketing of potash and Trio®, a product produced from langbeinite ore. Intrepid owns five active potash production facilities - three in New Mexico and two in Utah. The HB Solar Solution mine, which is currently under construction, will increase the number of our active potash production facilities to six.
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This document contains forward-looking statements - that is, statements about future, not past, events. The forward-looking statements in this document often relate to our future performance and management's expectations for the future, including statements about our financial outlook. These statements are based on assumptions that we believe are reasonable. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are uncertain. For us, the particular uncertainties that could cause our actual results to be materially different from our forward-looking statements include the following:
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changes in the price, demand, or supply of potash or Trio®/langbeinite
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circumstances that disrupt or limit our production, including operational difficulties or operational variances due to geological or geotechnical variances
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interruptions in rail or truck transportation services, or fluctuations in the costs of these services
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increased labor costs or difficulties in hiring and retaining qualified employees and contractors, including workers with mining, mineral processing, or construction expertise
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the costs of, and our ability to successfully construct, commission and execute, our strategic projects, including the development of our HB Solar Solution mine, the further development of our langbeinite recovery and granulation assets, and our North granulation plant
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adverse weather events, including events affecting precipitation and evaporation rates at our solar solution mines
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changes in the prices of raw materials, including chemicals, natural gas, and power
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the impact of federal, state, or local government regulations, including environmental and mining regulations, the enforcement of those regulations, and government policy changes
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our ability to obtain any necessary government permits relating to the construction and operation of assets
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changes in our reserve estimates
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competition in the fertilizer industry
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declines in U.S. or world agricultural production
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declines in the use of potash products by oil and gas companies in their drilling operations
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changes in economic conditions
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our ability to comply with covenants in our debt-related agreements to avoid a default under those agreements
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disruption in the credit markets
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our ability to secure additional federal and state potash leases to expand our existing mining operations
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the other risks and uncertainties described in our periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
All information in this document speaks as of December 10, 2012. New information or events after that date may cause our forward-looking statements in this document to change. We have no duty to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements to conform the statements to actual results or to reflect new information or future events.
Contact: Intrepid Potash Inc.
David Honeyfield
Phone: 303-296-3006