Fertiliser growth opportunity as BHP ponders potash push BHP Billiton is closing in on making a decision as to whether its foothold in the crop nutrient potash industry should be converted to a full-blown push into the world of fertilisers through a $US12 billion ($12.94bn) development of its Jansen project in Canada. Better known for its iron ore, coal, copper and oil production -- and its current aversion to spending money on projects of any description -- BHP has already spent more than $US2bn on preliminary development work at Jansen, which sits above the world's biggest deposit of the potassium-rich salt deep beneath much of Saskatchewan's southern prairie region.