Emmerson PLC (AIM:EML), the AIM-listed potash developer, has secured UK patent protection for its Khemisset Multi-mineral Process, technology that reduces water consumption by half and increases fertiliser recovery rates.
The UK Intellectual Property Office granted patent status (Patent No. 2634094) for the processing method, titled Processing of Evaporite Minerals, which protects the core KMP process and its derivative products.
The technology was primarily developed for Emmerson's Khemisset Potash Project in Morocco but has significant potential for application across a wider range of potash deposits globally.
The KMP reduces project water requirements by 50%, increases the recovery rate of muriate of potash from 85% to approximately 91%, and creates two new high-value, slow-release multi-nutrient fertilisers, struvite and vivianite.
The slow-release characteristic of these fertilisers reduces phosphate run-off to watercourses and enables less frequent application by farmers, providing both commercial and environmental benefits.
Emmerson has filed an extensive portfolio of patent applications through its advisors, Gill Jennings & Every, intended to protect the intellectual property in regions of greatest commercial interest.
The patent grant provides valuable protection for the company's technology as it pursues a US$1.215 billion compensation claim against Morocco through international arbitration.
Emmerson's subsidiaries filed a request for arbitration with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in April 2025, claiming Morocco expropriated the Khemisset Project in breach of a UK-Morocco bilateral investment treaty.
The claimants seek compensation for loss and damage sustained as a result of Morocco's alleged expropriation and breaches of its obligations to accord fair and equitable treatment and full protection and security.
Emmerson filed its memorial in the arbitration on 27 March, along with documentary, witness and expert evidence.
The company cautioned that there can be no certainty as to the outcome of the arbitration.
