{"id":117108,"date":"2023-12-22T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-22T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadialogue.net\/?post_type=photo_story&p=117108"},"modified":"2024-04-12T10:35:52","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T10:35:52","slug":"the-problem-with-potash-thailands-salt-encrusted-fields","status":"publish","type":"photo_story","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/the-problem-with-potash-thailands-salt-encrusted-fields\/","title":{"rendered":"The problem with potash: Thailand\u2019s salt-encrusted fields"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want our brothers and sisters in other parts of the country to face the impacts we have been facing,\u201d says Thanawan Kainok, addressing a panel discussion on the \u2018Past, Present and Future of Potash in Isan\u2019 in Wanon Niwat district, in north-east Thailand\u2019s Sakon Nakhon province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2015, the China Mingda Potash Corporation, a Chinese company registered in Thailand, received a licence to survey this rural area for potential sites to mine potash \u2013 naturally occurring salts rich in potassium and sodium. To date, while the company has explored several locations, they are yet to commence commercial mining due to strong opposition from local communities in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sitting<\/div>
Activist Thanawan Kainot talks to community members in Wanon Niwat district about the impact potash mining has had in her village, 300km away in Dan Khun Thot (Image: Luke Duggleby<\/a> \/ China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Thanawan travelled more than 300 kilometres to join the discussion, held in April 2023, from her community in Dan Khun Thot district, Nakhon Ratchasima province. Dan Khun Thot is the location of the only active potash mine in Thailand, and has suffered extensive salinisation of land and water, allegedly as a result of mining activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villagers in Wanon Niwat worry that a new potash mine could contaminate waterways that tens of thousands of people depend on for agricultural and household use with harmful chemicals and salt. In 2015, they formed the Wanon Niwat Preservation Group, which opposes potash mining with demonstrations, petitions, and direct action, such as physically blocking the company from surveying the area. As a result of the latter, the company filed several lawsuits<\/a> against community members in 2018, accusing them of defamation and demanding compensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wanon Niwat is one of three locations in north-east Thailand where companies have been attempting to mine potash, but have yet to start commercial extraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/div>
Of the four companies attempting to mine potash in Thailand\u2019s north-east, only one has commenced commercial extraction. ASEAN Potash in Chaiyaphum province and Asia Pacific Potash in Udon Thani both have concessions to mine. China Mingda is reapplying for its exploration licence, which expired in 2020.<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

While potash is mainly mined for potassium, which is used to produce fertilisers, the sodium it contains could soon prove equally attractive. Researchers at Thailand\u2019s Khon Kaen University have recently successfully developed rechargeable batteries<\/a> that use sodium, rather than lithium. This new technology, which is also being developed elsewhere in the world, looks set to make a big impact on the electric vehicle (EV) industry in particular. Sodium is cheaper and more readily available than lithium, and its use in batteries could help make EVs more affordable and promote their more widespread adoption. The Thai government is keen for this to happen, but anti-mining advocates worry it may trigger a boom in potash mining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing pressure to tap Isan\u2019s rich potash reserves<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The north-east of Thailand, a region also known as Isan, has a long history of salt-making<\/a>. Potash was first discovered in the area in the 1970s. While the size of Thailand\u2019s reserves is not clear, the government claims they amount to the fourth largest in the world. Canada has the world\u2019s largest known reserves, at 1,100 million tonnes<\/a>, followed by Belarus and Russia at 750 million and 400 million tonnes respectively. There has been interest in mining Thailand\u2019s potash since the 1980s, but very little headway has been made until the last few years, mainly due to a lack of financial viability<\/a> and legal restrictions, as well as local opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recent push to mine potash is closely tied to changes in the global market for fertilisers. Thailand currently relies heavily on imports, bringing in more than 736,000 tonnes of potassium chloride in 2022 according to Thai customs data<\/a>. But disruptions to trade in the commodity due to sanctions imposed in response<\/a> to Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine and the suppression of peaceful protest in Belarus resulted in a significant rise in potash prices in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe [Thai] government has been saying that the [mining] projects will reduce the import of potash and in turn reduce the price of fertiliser in Thailand,\u201d says Santiparp Siriwatthanaphaiboon, a lecturer at Udon Thani Rajabhat University. Santiparp says the country has the potential to produce an estimated 3 million metric tonnes of potash per year. This exceeds Thailand\u2019s current demand, leaving a healthy chunk that could, he says, be sold to China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Man<\/div>
Potash is mainly mined for its potassium, which is used to produce fertilisers. A recent hike in global potash prices has increased pressure from the Thai government and private companies to open new mines in the country\u2019s north-east. (Image: Luke Duggleby<\/a> \/ China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Despite having its own potash reserves, China, with its vast agricultural output, is the world\u2019s third largest importer of the commodity, bringing in more than 7.5 million  tonnes of potassium chloride every year, mainly from Russia, Canada and Belarus. The country has long eyed Thailand\u2019s reserves as a potential alternative source closer to home. In 1997, the two governments signed an MOU<\/a> on Chinese investment in potash mining in Thailand. A few years later, in 2004, the China Mingda Potash Corporation applied for a licence to explore for potash in Wanon Niwat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t until after Thailand\u2019s military coup in 2014 that this exploration licence was approved, however. Keen to make more economic use of the country\u2019s natural resources, the new military government also granted mining concessions<\/a> in three locations in the north-east provinces of Chaiyaphum, Udon Thani and Nakhon Ratchasima. So far, mining has only started in one of these locations \u2013 the Dan Khun Thot district project in Nakhon Ratchasima, operated by the local Thai Kali Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dead soils and salty water<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will keep this piece of land as it is, to be evidence of what the potash mine has done to the villagers,\u201d Thanawan Kainok says while walking on salt-encrusted land back home in Dan Khun Thot. This piece of land, abutting the mine\u2019s border fence, used to be a paddy field. After the potash mine started operating in 2017, community members say salt began seeping into the area\u2019s water sources and the soil became so salinised that nothing would grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"View<\/div>
The salt-encrusted soil of what once was a paddy field next to the potash mine in Dan Khun Thot\u2019s Sai Ngam village (Image: Luke Duggleby<\/a> \/ China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"Woman<\/div>
Thanawan says she and her fellow villagers are taking action because they don\u2019t want people elsewhere to suffer the same impacts from potash mining (Image: Luke Duggleby<\/a> \/ China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Aerial<\/div>
The residents of Sai Ngam village say their farmland used to be fertile, but crops began to fail within two years of the mine commencing operations (Image: Luke Duggleby<\/a> \/ China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

A process called solution mining<\/a> is being used to extract the potash here. This involves injecting large quantities of water underground to dissolve the potash salts. The resulting brine is then pumped back up to the surface into large ponds, where the water is slowly evaporated off to leave behind crystals of potassium and other salts. The entire process is very water intensive, and the risk of contaminating nearby water sources is high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within two years of Thai Kali commencing mining operations in Dan Khun Thot\u2019s Nong Sai sub-district, residents of the adjacent village of Sai Ngam began to see their crops fail, and traces of salt beginning to appear in the soil surrounding the mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are fighting so people will see what is happening to us<\/blockquote>Thanawan Kainot<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What had been productive farmland growing rice, mangoes and corn is now covered with the white residue of salt for much of the year. Dead trees and bushes stand where healthy ones once grew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always thought that they [the mining companies] would bring development to us. I was really shocked to see this much negative impact,\u201d Thanawan says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the villagers\u2019 request, the Environment and Pollution Control Office, a Thai government agency, tested soil and water samples from around the mine in May 2022. It detected very high salinity<\/a> \u2013 so high that residents have noted erosion to their walls and buildings caused by the salt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"People<\/div>
Anti-mining activists use a map of Dan Khun Thot to discuss areas outside Nong Sai sub-district where residents say they have also seen impacts from the Thai Kali potash mine. In one village over 10km from the mine, water sources have become salty. Crops have failed in other areas where the company has carried out exploratory mining. (Image: Luke Duggleby<\/a> \/ China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Krue Kainok, who lives in a village located more than 10km from the potash mine, says that running water in his village became salty in 2019. \u201cWe were showering and suddenly felt itchy. The shampoo no longer produced bubbles. When we tasted the tap water, that\u2019s when we knew that the running water had become salty,\u201d he says, explaining that salinised water from the area around the mine flows down through natural waterways into the public pond used by his village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The villagers bought drinking water for almost a year before they demanded someone take responsibility. Eventually, Thai Kali laid pipes to connect the village to another water source, but the price they had to pay for water ballooned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early 2022, when the company started to explore other possible mining locations in the area, residents in the village of Sa Khi Tun quickly saw environmental impacts in the immediate vicinity of a test site. Rice that once grew in abundance stopped growing, and fish in a nearby pond died. Fearing they would face the same fate as Sai Ngam village, residents came together to form the Dan Khun Thot District Preservation Group to oppose the mine and demand compensation. Thanawan, who had returned home from working in Bangkok during the Covid-19 pandemic, decided not to go back to the capital, and became a leader of protests against the mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Person<\/div>
Just outside a village a few kilometres away from the Thai Kali potash mine, residents hang a protest banner with the words: \u201cThe people of Sa Khi Tun don\u2019t want mining\u201d (Image: Luke Duggleby<\/a> \/ China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"Aerial<\/div>
The fields of Sa Khi Tun are still green and fertile. The villagers are taking action to keep them this way, following exploratory mining activities in the area. (Image: Luke Duggleby<\/a> \/ China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Woman<\/div>
Jongdi Minkhunthot and her fellow villagers succeeded in closing down a test mining site in Sa Khi Tun. They planted corn to cover the road leading to the site. (Image: Luke Duggleby<\/a> \/ China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t fight, the impacts are going to get worse,\u201d Thanawan says. Thai Kali bought much of the land surrounding the mine from residents, but Thanawan refused to sell hers. \u201cWe are fighting so people will see what is happening to us. We want to be an example so the same thing will never happen in other areas in Isan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Electric cars and a new reason for more potash mining<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, the Thai government announced<\/a> its ambitious \u201830@30\u2019 vision, which aims to ensure that 30% of the country\u2019s vehicles will be electric by 2030<\/a>. This push has put wind in the sails of Thai efforts to develop affordable rechargeable batteries using sodium, a cheaper alternative to lithium. The sodium-ion batteries so far developed by Khon Kaen University \u2013 the first of their kind in Southeast Asia \u2013 are not yet ready for use in electric vehicles. But the government hopes they will play a key role in the development of Thailand\u2019s own EV battery industry. It seems there are also hopes this will, in turn, boost the potash industry. Official communications on the subject often mention the country\u2019s potash reserves<\/a> as a source of sodium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, internal efforts to push potash mining also point to the potential growth in demand for sodium thanks to this new type of battery. This can be seen in a Ministry of Finance document presented to cabinet<\/a> in January 2023, which states: \u201cThere are investors in energy who are interested in investing in the [proposed] potash mine in Chaiyaphum province. These investors are not interested in producing potassium fertiliser but in using potash as a raw material to produce batteries for EVs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"A<\/div>
Researchers at Khon Kaen University in north-east Thailand are developing a new type of battery that uses sodium rather than lithium (Image: Luke Duggleby<\/a> \/ China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"A<\/div>
The university already has a plant that produces lithium-ion batteries, and is currently building a similar facility for sodium batteries (Image: Luke Duggleby<\/a> \/ China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

However, experts have questioned the need for new potash mines to meet demand from the EV industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonglak Meethong, head of the sodium-ion battery research team at Khon Kaen University, explains that the technology needs very pure sodium. New mines focused primarily on potassium production may not be able to provide this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The battery they developed used sodium extracted from rock salt mined in Thailand. At current levels of demand, Nonglak does not believe an additional source of the mineral is needed. But demand is likely to increase substantially over the next decade, she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe technology to produce batteries from sodium will be coming in for sure, which is good progress. However, we will need to manage the resources and control the environmental impact,\u201d says Nonglak, noting the need to limit repercussions on communities who live near mines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"People<\/div>
Activists from across north-east Thailand are helping each other to oppose potash mining in their respective communities. They came together in April 2023 to learn more about the potential impacts and swap campaign techniques. (Image: Luke Duggleby<\/a> \/ China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Lertsak Khamkhongsak, an anti-mining advocate and founder of activist group The Project for Public Policy on Mineral Resources, agrees that current quantities of rock salt mined in Thailand are adequate for the needs of the battery industry. He fears EVs are being used as a green excuse to push for more potash mining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claiming you are trying to be environmentally friendly is a way to get projects \u201capproved more easily,\u201d says Lertsak, adding that \u201cwhat happens in reality is different\u201d. \u201cAt the end of the day, potash will mostly be used by China to make fertiliser.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere needs to be a more complete explanation of how they will take care of the pollution and [map out] appropriate mining areas, not just coming out and saying that we will have enough materials to produce batteries,\u201d Lertsak says. \u201cEven with just the potash mine in Dan Khun Thot district, there are already many impacts. If there is more demand from other industries, how will they be able to control the impacts?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China Dialogue reached out to the Thai Kali Company for their response to the issues raised in this article, but had not received a response by the time of publication.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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