OREANDA-NEWS. September 29, 2011. Uralkali announces the postponement of the "Potash mines in the 21st century: the Efficiency and Safety" international conference. Such decision was made by the conference organizing committee on the basis of numerous appeals to the company from international experts with a request to reconsider the announced conference timeframes and in connection with the need for a more complete and competent representation of the professional community.

The 2011 fall calendar has a large number of international industry events in the chemical and mining sector. Therefore, not all those who wish to participate in the Uralkali conference will be able to take part. Given the considerable interest in the event by different companies, mining experts, as well as the scientific community, the organizing committee has considered it appropriate to postpone the conference to the spring of 2012 in order to enable to participate to a larger number of specialists.

Uralkali will announce a more exact date of the conference shortly, after considering the interests and proposals of the majority of the potential participants of the event.

As –previously announce, the conference organizers are Uralkali, the Mining Institute of the Urals Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Germany-based potash consulting and engineering company Ercosplan. The event will be held under the auspices of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Russian Federation; the Federal Agency on Mineral Resources (Rosnedra); the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological, and Nuclear Supervision (Rosthekhnadzor); and the Federal Service for the Oversight of Natural Resources (Rosprirodnadzor).

In the course of the conference, it is planned to discuss the current situation and the future of the potash market, modern technologies for the development of fossil salt deposits, enhancement of mining efficiency, and the best global practices for ensuring mining safety, mine flooding protection, and minimization of the mining environmental impact.