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 sylvinitic ore has its main use as a fertilizer.

The 100 m to 200 m thick Prairie Evaporite Formation is overlain by approximately 400 m of Devonian carbonates followed by 100 m of Cretaceous sandstone, 400 m of Cretaceous shales, and 100m of recent Pleistocene glacial tills to surface. The Prairie Evaporite Formation is underlain by Devonian carbonates. The Phanerozoic stratigraphy of Saskatchewan is remarkable in that units are flat-lying and relatively undisturbed over very large areas.

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 trace carnallite (KMgCl3 · 6H2O) and minor 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.

Over the past three years (2018, 2019, 2020), the average measured potash ore grade of the mill feed at Vanscoy was 25.6% K20 equivalent. The average o ........

At Vanscoy, potash ore is mined using conventional mining methods, whereby:
- Shafts are sunk to the potash ore body;
- Continuous mining machines cut out the ore, which is hoisted to surface through the production shaft;
- Raw potash is processed and concentrated in a mill on surface; and
- Concentrated finished potash products (near-pure KCl) are sold and shipped to markets in North America and offshore.

Virtually all Vanscoy underground mining rooms are in one potash mineralized zone, the upper layer (or A Zone) of the Patience Lake Member of the Prairie Evaporite Formation (the host evaporite salt). At Vanscoy, mine elevations range from approximately 1,000 m to 1,120 m depth below surface. Mine workings are protected from aquifers in overlying formations by approximately 12 m of overlying salt and potash beds, along with salt plugged porosity in the Dawson Bay Formation, a carbonate layer lying immediately above potash hosting salt beds.

The Vanscoy mine is a conventional underground mining operation whereby continuous mining machines are used to excavate the potash ore by the stress-relief mining method. Continuous conveyor belts transport ore from the mining face to the bottom of the production shaft.

The highest mineral grade section of the Vanscoy potash seam is approximately 3.35 m (11’) thick, with gradations to lower grade salts immediately above and below the mining horizon. The actual mining thickness at Vansc ........

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In recent years, the Vanscoy mine underwent a major expansion which brought the nameplate capacity up to 3.0 million tonnes of finished potash products per year. In 2020, operational capability at the Vanscoy facility was 1.7 million tonnes per year. Operational capability may vary during the year and year-to-year including as between our potash operations.

Slimes separation is required to remove the fine potash particles in the primary cyclone overflow from the unwanted insoluble material. This flow is passed over trash screens to remove larger foreign material that can impede the downstream process. The slurry that passes through the trash screens is sent to the inclined plate hydro-classifier to complete the slimes separation process. The current process uses insoluble (or slimes) flotation to achieve this step and hydro-classification has been proven throughout the potash industry to be a much more efficient and cost effective method.

Proper management of sat ........