Mosaic announces immediate closures of Esterhazy K1, K2 potash mine shafts
The Mosaic Company announced it is closing the K1 and K2 potash mine shafts in Esterhazy, effective immediately.
In a press release Friday, the company said the timeline of the closures was accelerated by nine months due to a recent increase in brine inflows. The mines were already scheduled for closure as part of the transition to the K3 mine shaft.
“The intention was always to close out K1 and K2, those mines have reached kind of the end of their mine life,” Sarah Fedorchuk, vice president of government and public affairs for North America at The Mosaic Company, said in a phone interview.
Fedorchuk said the closures will have no workforce impact, with K1 and K2 workers being transferred to K3.
Mosaic intends to resume production at the Colonsay potash mine and said it will be recalling workers as soon as “practical.”
“This restart will offset a portion of the production lost by the early closure of the K1 and K2 shafts at Esterhazy, and position the company to take advantage of the expected strong potash markets in 2022 and beyond,” Mosaic said in the release.
With the closures happening earlier than anticipated, Fedorchuk said the company is expecting a one million tonne shortfall from its original 2021 projections.
“There’s going to be a bit of a short term supply and demand issue with potash, but by this time next year K3 will be fully operational,” Fedorchuk said.
With Colonsay returning to service and the Esterhazy K3 ramping up to full capacity in the next year, Mosaic expects potash production could increase by two million tonnes from 2020 levels, by March 2022.
Mosaic has been managing brine inflow in Esterhazy since 1985 making it the longest a brine inflow has been managed in the history of the industry.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
New deep-water channel allows first ship to pass Key bridge wreckage in Baltimore
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.