Jansen potash mine | Municipality continues to plan 
for development while company re-evaluates project
Construction continues on the BHP Billiton potash mine site near Jansen, Sask., despite speculation that the project won’t receive board approval.
Jerry McGrath, reeve of the Rural Municipality of Jansen, said the region is upbeat about the project despite the uncertainty.
“The independent studies they got show there’s going to be about 5,000 people moving into this region,” he said last week.
“It’s going to be a big boost for the towns, the villages, the city of Humboldt and the rural municipalities. There’s not a meeting goes by now that we haven’t got an application or somebody’s looking at a subdivision. Some may be speculative, but there’s definitely lots going on.”
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The work camp, which Atco is building complete with water and sewer systems, is expected to be ready for some residents by July 1. Construction on the rest of the rooms will begin later this summer and be completed during the first quarter of next year.
Eight kilometres of road south from the mine site to Highway 16 will be paved this spring under an agreement with the RMs of Jansen and Prairie Rose.
A 22 km stretch of road north of the site will be built this year and paved in 2014.
“When you’re out here, there is quite a bit going on,” McGrath said.
However, the project is still considered to be at the feasibility study stage, and many have suggested it won’t proceed despite the activity.
Potash prices have fallen and other companies have shelved or delayed expansion plans.
Chris Ryder, BHP’s vice-president of external affairs for diamonds and specialty products, said the board will go through its own decision-making process.
In the meantime, BHP is spending a lot of money at the site.
The mine was originally designed to produce two million tonnes of potash per year with plans to eventually expand to eight million tonnes.
However, plans now call for the mine to initially produce four million tonnes a year.
“You need a larger mine that’s going to be lower on the cost curve to justify the capital cost,” Ryder said.
The change has resulted in more engineering work and cost estimates, which take time.
“Additional time will allow further underground development, which will result in higher initial production rates once Jansen is brought on production,” said a company statement.
The detailed engineering has been done for the underground work, and excavation of the shaft is underway.
“It does take years to build a conventional potash mine, especially one the size that we’re building,” Ryder said.
Nearly 400 people are working at the site and work camp.
BHP has also been active in local communities.
When fire destroyed the rink in LeRoy a few weeks ago, employees of the company and its contractors helped fight the fire and erected a safety fence around the site the next day.
McGrath said that is characteristic of the relationship between communities and BHP.
He said the delays in formal approval are concerning, but he believes the mine will open.
“I feel confident, but I guess I’m in the middle of the whole thing here, so sometimes you can’t see the trees for the forest.”
McGrath said the four RMs, seven towns and villages and the city of Humboldt, which belong to the Mid Sask Municipal Alliance, are in the final stages of developing a regional plan that addresses planning and development, zoning and building bylaws.
He said the delay has been good from that perspective because it allowed the area a chance to get ready.
The BHP project is the first new conventional potash mine to be built in 40 years. Local governments weren’t as involved in the earlier projects.
