K+S opens West Coast terminal to ship potash from Legacy mine

Just over a year after its new $4.1-billion Legacy mine began producing potash, K+S Potash Canada has opened the west coast facility that will allow it to ship potassium-laced salts extracted in Saskatchewan to customers in Asia and South America.

The Port Moody, B.C. storage and handling facility is the product of a 2014 agreement between K+S Potash Canada (KSPC) — a subsidiary of the Kassel, Germany-based K+S Group — and Pacific Coast Terminals Co. Ltd. (PCT).

According to the Saskatoonbased potash miner, the deal resulted in modifications of PCT’s existing facility and the construction of a new storage building capable of holding 160,000 tonnes of potash. The solution mine can produce up to 2.86 million tonnes per year.

“This port facility is essential to the success of our Canadian potash operations,” K+S board chair Burkhard Lohr said in a statement.

“In Saskatchewan, we now have access to high-quality resources for generations to come — and from here, in Port Moody, we will deliver our products to customers around the world.”

KSPC said in a news release that potash mined at Legacy, which is near Bethune, will be shipped to the new facility in Canadian Pacific trains up to three kilometres long. It said the facility can unload 18,000 tonnes of potash in under five hours.

Legacy, the province’s first new potash mine in four decades, entered production in a period of sustained fertilizer market weakness, which has forced Saskatchewan’s other producers to cut costs and scale back their operations.