Buffalo Potash's ($BUFF | $BLPTF) Disley Project: Saskatchewan’s Next Potash Operation?
Summary
Buffalo Potash plans Q1 2027 first production from its 125,000-tonne-per-year Disley IPM, a $1.1B-NPV, 30% IRR project in Saskatchewan's proven potash fairway.
Patented HLD technology uses horizontal wells and multi-stage packers from oil and gas to create mining planes that selectively dissolve high-grade potash.
Disley sits next to operating K+S and Mosaic Belle Plain solution mines; existing highway, rail, power, and gas infrastructure already run past the site.
The company holds measured and indicated resources of 581 million tonnes at Disley, with a long-term build-out targeting 3 million tonnes across six 500,000-tonne facilities.
Saskatchewan produces over 33% of the world's potash, giving Buffalo Potash local access to deep industry expertise, services, and equipment.
Quinton Hardage's takeaways
- Top takeaway Hardage says Buffalo's PEA on the Disley project returned $1.1B USD NPV and 30% IRR, with measured and indicated resources of 581 million tonnes supporting a target rate of 1.125 million tonnes per year over 50+ years.
- He argues the company's patented horizontal-line-drive method — adapted from oil-and-gas multi-stage packers — lets Buffalo start small with a 125,000 tpa Initial Production Module targeting Q1 2027 first production, rather than the 2 million tonnes/year scale that historically trapped junior potash developers.
- Hardage claims the IPM has a roughly 1.1-year payback, is ahead of schedule and under budget as of September 2026, and is being advanced in parallel with a feasibility study on two 500,000 tpa Disley East and Disley West facilities.
- He outlines that the remaining two horizontal IPM wells are due to be completed in September 2026, with mining-plane creation in October–November, KCl-rich brine production by December, and processing-equipment commissioning ahead of Q1 2027 first production.
Steve Halibara's takeaways
- Top takeaway Halibara originated the land position that became Anglo Potash, which BHP subsequently acquired and is now advancing as the Jansen mine, according to Hardage.
- He also acquired and advanced the Invictus Minerals / Potash One assets that K+S ultimately bought for roughly $430 million; the property was originally selected using the Occidental Petroleum Lumsden pilot and an Imperial Oil pilot as the three anchor data points.
- Halibara led the technical work on Potash One — including a six-for-six vertical well program, 2D/3D seismic, and participation on the 43-101 pre-feasibility study — and now serves as Buffalo Potash CEO and director alongside Hardage, his collaborator of 15+ years.
Jeff Barber's takeaways
- Top takeaway Barber is also a director of Standard Lithium and brings experience extracting and selling high-value products out of brine — directly relevant to Buffalo's KCl-from-brine flow sheet.
- He participated fairly largely in Buffalo's RTO round, according to Hardage, and joined the board to strengthen the commercial side of the team.