Global resources of potassium-magnesium salts are estimated at 3.7 billion tonnes of K2O (according to USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, 2016). As of 2015, the total production was 38.8 million tonnes. Based on these figures it is reasonable to assume that the resources would be depleted in roughly 100 years.
Potassium-magnesium chloride salts (sylvine and carnallite) account for a vast majority of the global resources and are the main internationally traded commodity at prices twice lower than potassium-magnesium sulphate salts (polyhalite).
Global resources of potassium-magnesium salts are distributed very unevenly: 10 countries hold 97% of the resources and three countries account for as much 63% of the tot al resources – Canada (27%, Belarus (20%) and Russia (16%).
