The Jansen potash project has surpassed the 50 percent construction completion mark for its first phase (JS1), BHP (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP) announced in a press release earlier this week.

Jansen was BHP’s first stepping stone into the potash sector more than 14 years ago. The project site is located approximately 140 kilometers east of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and is fully owned by BHP. Two of the mine’s shafts are over 1,000 metres deep.

“As JS1 crosses the halfway mark, the focus now shifts towards the completion of the mill building and processing plant, port construction, finalizing infrastructure and gearing up to handover the project to operations,” the company stated in the press release.

Stage one has a planned annual production of 4.15 million tonnes, with first production expected to be delivered in late 2026. Stage two construction is anticipated to take six years, with its first production in 2029 followed by a ramp-up period of three years.

Once both stages are complete, the project is designed to produce approximately 8.5 million tonnes per annum of agricultural-grade potash.

BHP has already commenced construction of stage two alongside construction of stage one. Some of the benefits of the transition to the second phase during the construction of the first phase, according to BHP, include leveraging the experience of the Jansen project team, using existing contractors and reducing overheads.

The company’s total investment amount of about CA$14 million is both the largest investment in BHP’s history and the largest private investment in Saskatchewan. BHP approved CA$7.5 billion in investment for stage one of Jansen in 2021 and allocated an additional CAD$6.4 billion investment for stage two when it announced the expansion in late 2023.

“Building one of the largest potash mines in the world requires an all-hands-on-deck approach, and the province has really come together to make a project of this magnitude possible,” said Karina Gistelinck, BHP’s asset president for potash. “Delivering Jansen safely remains our top priority as we get ready for Jansen operations in 2026.’

The project is expected to operate for up to 100 years, and once stage 2 is complete, Jansen is expected to supply about 10 percent of global potash production.

Securities Disclosure: I, Gabrielle de la Cruz, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.