Overview
| Status | Care and Maintenance |
| Mine Type | Underground |
| Commodities |
|
| Mining Method |
- Continuous
- Room-and-pillar
|
| Processing |
- Flotation
- Dissolving & Crystallising
|
In November 2015, the Penobsquis, New Brunswick mine was permanently closed. In January 2016, the Company indefinitely suspended its Picadilly, New Brunswick operations, which are currently in care- and-maintenance mode. |
Source:
p. 6
Effective January 1, 2018, PotashCorp and Agrium Inc. (“Agrium”) completed a court-approved plan of Merger (the “Merger”) under section 192 of the CBCA, involving, among others, PotashCorp, Agrium and Nutrien Ltd. (“Nutrien”), the new parent company of PotashCorp and Agrium. As a result of completing the Merger, PotashCorp and Agrium are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Nutrien.
Mining Methods
- Continuous
- Room-and-pillar
Summary:
Potash is mined using two- and four-rotor continuous boring machines.
Conveyor belts carry ore to underground bins, where it is stored until transportation to the loading pocket of the shaft hoist.
Potash ore is hoisted to the surface through the production shaft.
Processing Technologies
- Flotation
- Dissolving & Crystallising
Summary:
Ore hoisted from the mine is crushed into small pieces, which releases the crystals of potash and salt in the ore. Clay particles are separated from the crystals using agitation machines. The clay particles are much smaller than the potash and salt crystals and are removed using size separators.
Process reagents added to the potash, salt and brine mixture attach only to the potash crystals. These reagents enable potash to attach to fine air bubbles that are introduced into the bottom of flotation machines. The potash particles rise to the surface for collection and the salt remains on the bottom, where it is discarded.
Potash particles and brine are transferred to centrifuges (similar to a washing machine spin cycle), which separates potash from the brine. The potash is moved to dryers, which heat the product to about 200 degrees Celsius. The resulting dry mixture contains various sizes that are separated by huge mesh screens into standard, granular and suspension grade product.
A portion of the finer product stream is fused under high pressure between two rolls. The resulting solid “board” is broken into pieces and sized to form additional granular potash.
Recoveries & Grades:
| Commodity | Parameter | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 |
|
Potash
|
Head Grade, %
| 20.3 | 22.3 | 22.5 |
Production:
| Commodity | Units | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 |
|
Potash
|
Mt
| 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.7 |
All production numbers are expressed as salt.
Operational Metrics:
| Metrics | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 |
|
Annual production capacity
| 2 Mt of potash salt | | | |
|
Ore tonnes mined
| | 2.38 Mt | 1.9 Mt | 2 Mt |
Reserves at December 31, 2016:
| Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade |
|
Proven
|
159 Mt
|
K2O
|
24.6 %
|
|
Proven & Probable
|
159 Mt
|
K2O
|
24.6 %
|
Financials:
| | Units | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 |
|
Capital expenditures
|
M CAD
|
1.41
|
2.38
|
0.82
|