"The problem with potash: Thailand’s salt-encrusted fields" 22 December 2023

...In 2015, the China Mingda Potash Corporation, a Chinese company registered in Thailand, received a licence to survey Wanon Niwat district, in north-east Thailand’s Sakon Nakhon province, for potential sites to mine potash – 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...

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...As a result of the latter, the company filed several lawsuits against community members in 2018, accusing them of defamation and demanding compensation...

While potash is mainly mined for potassium...the sodium it contains could soon prove equally attractive...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.

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So far, mining has only started in the Dan Khun Thot district project in Nakhon Ratchasima, operated by the local Thai Kali Company...

Within two years of Thai Kali commencing mining operations in Dan Khun Thot’s 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... At the villagers’ 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 – so high that residents have noted erosion to their walls and buildings caused by the salt. ..

...experts have questioned the need for new potash mines to meet demand from the EV industry...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...

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.