In 2005-2006, I was part of a small team who completed the sale of a Canadian listed company with concession rights to potash deposits in Udon Province in Thailand. The purchaser was Italian-Thai Development PCL

The takeover was completed during a period of significant political upheaval in Thailand, with daily rallies in the streets, either protesting the Thaksin Shinawatra-led Government or rallying in support of the Government. People in Bangkok at that time will recall Sondhi Limthongkul's Friday afternoon rallies in Lumpini Park. Sometimes, the only way to determine who was demonstrating was to look out the office window and check the colour of their shirts - red was pro-Thaksin, yellow was anti-Thaksin.

The political upheaval culminated in a military-led coup on 19 September 2006.

Fast forward 16 years and, on 7 October 2022, ITD was granted a Potash Mining Licence from the Udon Thani Provincial Industrial Office. This allows ITD to proceed with the underground mining project to extract potash for both domestic and international markets. The Udon South Potash Project's mine construction period will be approximately three years with potash ore production of around 21 years from this deposit.

When ITD completed the takeover of Asia Pacific Resources Ltd in 2006, we knew they faced an uphill political battle to obtain a mining licence. (Ask Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd how easy it has been to deal with the Thai Government during the past decade.) However, I suspect none of us thought it would take 16 years post-sale to progress the project to the point where a mining licence would be issued. Clearly, ITD's persistence has paid off.

October 2022

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