Producers explore new methods to compete
Explore new mines, new methods and a new outlook
Saskatchewan is home to half of the world’s reserves of potash — an important element in the fertilizer used to grow the crops needed to feed the planet’s nearly eight billion people.
Last year, the province mined and exported more than 20 million tonnes, accounting for more than 30 per cent of the world’s annual production, according to figures from the Saskatchewan Mining Association.
Aside from fertilizer, potash is used to manufacture potassium-bearing chemicals in things such as detergents and pharmaceuticals.
For Saskatchewan, it’s a $5.5-billion industry, contributing more than 5,000 jobs and $1.5 billion in wages and taxes to the economy.
Two methods are used to mine potash: conventional underground mining and solution mining.
Most of the mineral is extracted using conventional underground mining at depths of about one kilometre. The business end of a conventional potash mine tunnel sees large boring machines grinding away at the face of the deposit, with conveyor belts taking the raw ore back through many kilometres of tunnels to meet up with the production hoist that brings it to the surface.
Solution mining, which is done at depths greater than 1.6 km, involves pumping hot water underground into the ore body under high pressure, where it dissolves the potassium chloride and sodium chloride. The resulting brine solution is then pumped to the surface for processing.
Mosaic Company has experience with both types of production. Its Belle Plaine solution mine has been in operation west of Regina
since 1964. Its K3 mine, near Esterhazy, is a traditional underground mine, though it will be among the most technologically sophisticated potash mines in the world when completed.
“Mosaic’s Belle Plaine site was the first (and still the world’s largest) solution mine,” says Sarah Fedorchuk, vice-president of public affairs and government relations, North America, for Mosaic Company.
“Each type of mining has its own associated costs. Traditional shaft mining requires a great deal of infrastructure and assets, underground maintenance and capital for the life of the mine. In solution mining, there are other costs that come from drilling, pumping and the evaporation process.”
Fedorchuk says the new K3 mine in Esterhazy — Saskatchewan’s first new underground mine in more than half a century — will lead the industry in innovation and efficiency.
“Our new mine in Esterhazy is poised to be one of the largest, lowest-cost potash facilities in the world.
“For Saskatchewan’s potash industry to thrive in the future, we have to think about overall competitiveness,” she says. “While supply and demand predict the short to medium outlook, long-term we need to be taking action to ensure we stay ahead of our Russian, Belarusian and other global rivals.”
Mike Ferguson has a different vision for producing potash in Saskatchewan.
The president and chief executive officer of Gensource Potash Corporation says the company is putting the final touches on work that will move the province’s newest solution mine to the construction phase later this summer.
When fully operational, the Tugaske Project, located 170 kilometres south of Saskatoon, will produce 250,000 metric tonnes of potash each year.
It’s not a large number, but Ferguson says everything about the project signals a seismic shift in thinking about potash production.
“It’s funny. Every industry has its evolution period and its revolution period, and I think it’s time for the revolution period in the potash industry,” says Ferguson.
Gensource has developed a solution mining method that drastically reduces the footprint required for a production site, while reducing operating costs, energy consumption and impact on the local environment.
“What we’re doing is called selective solution mining and that’s a real change from the other two mining methods on a number of fronts. First, because it uses less energy per tonne, it uses much less fresh water per tonne, it’s cheaper to implement and, environmentally, it leaves no salt tailings on the surface and requires no brine ponds,” he says.
“So the result is our operation won’t even look like a potash mine. Somebody driving by won’t even be able to tell that it’s a potash mine, it’ll look like a little agricultural processing facility or something like that. It’s a wildly different animal in almost every respect.”
Ferguson’s vision for the future is to have many of these smaller mines dotted around the province, mining potash more unobtrusively.
“We see this as the way potash will be produced in the future.”
Solution mining appears to be on the rise in Saskatchewan. When it opened in 2017, the K+S Bethune solution mine was the first greenfield project in the province in 40 years.
Later this year, Western Potash Corp. is getting ready to begin harvesting potash from its Milestone selective solution mining project, 30 km southeast of Regina.
Every industry has its evolution period and its revolution period, and I think it’s time for the revolution period in the potash industry.
MIKE FERGUSON, president and CEO, Gensource Potash Corp.