At an open house event in Esterhazy on September 22, The Mosaic Company revealed the first official details of the upcoming Stage 2 expansion to its potash mining operations in the area.
The $1.5 billion addition of a third mining site to Mosaic Potash Esterhazy should be completed by mid-2016 and provide about 100 permanent new full-time jobs.
"We've been very open that we're going to do a K3 mine site, but up until now we've kept the location as tightly controlled as possible," said Paul McMillen, the company's Esterhazy Expansion Manager.
Considerable buzz therefore surrounded last Wednesday's unveiling. The SN Boreen Community Centre where the event was hosted was full throughout the afternoon.
The new K3 site will be located east of Esterhazy about halfway between the town and the existing K2 site. The expansion will add approximately one million tonnes to the Esterhazy operation's 5.45 million tonne annual production.
Some equipment will be shared between the two sites; product mined at K3 will be shipped on trucks to K2 for processing. New infrastructure will be built at the K2 site along with an industrial haul road to accommodate the new workload.
Besides serving as an announcement platform, the open house was a step in the company's environmental impact assessment process. Preliminary studies have been completed into the area's flora & fauna, ground & surface water, and heritage sites, finding the mine's potential impact on each of these to be acceptable with proper mitigation efforts. Members of the public at the meeting were invited to express their opinions and concerns by filling out a questionnaire and speaking to the Mosaic employees present.
Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, said Jessica Theriault, the project's environmental lead. "Our whole area is really supportive of mining."
"We've been here for 50 years," added McMillen. "People in Esterhazy understand what mining's about."Freeze hole drilling, a precursor to shaft sinking, is expected to begin at the site within the next few months.
