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
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.
Government proposes new policy for federally regulated employees to disconnect from work
In their 2024 budget, the federal government wants to amend the Canada Labour Code, so employers in federally regulated sectors will eliminate work-related communication with employees outside of scheduled hours. If implemented, this would affect roughly 500,000 employees across the country.
Earthquake jolts southern Japan
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 hit southern Japan late on Wednesday, said the Japan Meteorological Agency, without issuing a tsunami warning.