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Canada

Rocanville Mine

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Categories

Overview

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Potash
Mining Method
  • Room-and-pillar
  • Continuous
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Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotAt Rocanville, potash ore has been mined and concentrated to produce saleable quantities of high-grade finished potash products. Raw potash ore is processed on surface and concentrated finished potash products (near-pure KCl) are sold and shipped to markets in North America and offshore.

In recent years the Rocanville mine has undergone a major expansion which brought the nameplate capacity to 6.5 million tonnes of finished potash products per year.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. (operator) 100 % Direct
Nutrien Ltd. 100 % Indirect
Nutrien Ltd. owns and operates a potash mine at Rocanville indirectly through PotashCorp.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Evaporite

Summary:

Much of southern Saskatchewan is underlain by the Prairie Evaporite Formation, a layered sequence of salts and anhydrite which contains one of the world’s largest deposits of potash. The potash extracted from the predominantly sylvinite ore has its main use as a fertilizer.

The 100 m to 200 m thick Prairie Evaporite Formation is overlain by approximately 500 m of Devonian carbonates, followed by 100 m of Cretaceous sandstone, and 400 m of Cretaceous shales and Pleistocene glacial tills to surface; it is underlain by Devonian carbonates (Fuzesy, 1982). The Phanerozoic stratigraphy of Saskatchewan is remarkable in that units are flat-lying and relatively undisturbed over very large areas. Rocanville stratigraphy differs slightly from this regional model in that Mississippian carbonates and Jurassic clastics are present.

Potash mineralization in this region of Saskatchewan is predominantly sylvinite, which is comprised mainly of the minerals sylvite (KCl) and halite or rock salt (NaCl), with minor carnallite (KMgCl3 · 6H2O) and water insolubles. Potash fertilizer is concentrated, nearly pure KCl (i.e. greater than 95% pure KCl), but ore grade is traditionally reported on a % K2O equivalent basis. The “% K2O equivalent” gives a standard measurement of the nutrient value of different potassium-bearing rocks and minerals. To convert from % K2O equivalent tonnes to actual KCl tonnes, multiply by 1.58.

There are three mineable potash members within the Prairie Evaporite Formation of Saskatchewan. Stratigraphically highest to lowest, these members are: Patience Lake, Belle Plaine, and Esterhazy.

The Rocanville potash deposit lies within the Esterhazy Member of the Prairie Evaporite Formation. The Patience Lake Member potash beds are not present in the Rocanville Area. The Belle Plaine and White Bear Members are present, but not conventionally mineable in the Rocanville area. The potash zone at Rocanville is approximately 2.4 metres thick and occurs near the top of the Prairie Evaporite Formation. Potash mineralization in this area is flat-lying and continuous. Mine elevations range from approximately 895 m to 1040 m, averaging approximately 955 m. Within the Rocanville Lease, depths to the top of the ore zone can reach up 1250 m (the deepest potash exploration drillhole), but are expected to be shallower than 1200 m over most of the lease area. Salt cover from the ore zone to overlying units is approximately 30 m.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Production

CommodityProductUnits202320222021202020192018201720162015
Potash Salt Mt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe5.15.24.92.72.5

Operational metrics

Metrics202320222021202020192018201720162015
Annual production capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe6.5 Mt of potash salt6.5 Mt of potash salt6.5 Mt of potash salt6 Mt of potash salt3 Mt of potash salt
Ore tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe16 Mt16.7 Mt15.1 Mt8.63 Mt7.85 Mt

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Mar 25, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Mar 25, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Mar 25, 2024

EmployeesYear
...... Subscription required 2017
...... Subscription required 2016
...... Subscription required 2015

Aerial view:

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