Russia's Uralkali, the world's biggest potash producer, is preparing to restart operations at half its Solikamsk-2 mine, where work was halted last week after an accident, its chief executive said on Monday.
The governor of the Perm region where Solikamsk-2 is located said the inflow of water at the mine had "practically stopped" and there was no danger to residents of the area, where a large sinkhole has formed.
"The possibility of starting work at half of the Solikamsk mine is being discussed," chief executive Dmitry Osipov told reporters in Berezniki in the Perm region.
Regional governor Viktor Basargin said: "Fortunately everything is unfolding under a different scenario to a week ago. There is practically no inflow."
"We can say today that it's possible to start work at the second mine, up to a level of about 50 percent," Basargin said.
Moscow-listed shares in Uralkali were up by more than 4 percent on the day. Shares in Uralkali fell sharply last week after the water inflow forced the company to halt operations at Solikamsk-2.
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