The strike by miners at three PotashCorp mines continued last week, with the company reporting that the strikers are seeking a bonus that would amount to $157,000 each when considering first-half 2008 earnings on an annualized basis. The union disputed the charge in Canadian newspapers.
The strike is by some 500 members of the United Steel Workers (USW) at the Cory, Allan, and Patience Lake mines in Saskatchewan. Allan and Cory are both offline due to the strike, while Patience Lake is not slated to return to production until Oct. 4.
There were concerns last week that the outage could have a greater impact on the industrial potash market than the agriculture market. PotashCorp said that the Cory mine is its primary source of potash for the industrial market, less so for Allan. PotashCorp estimated that industrial potash represents about 5 percent of its business. The three mines together account for 30 percent of PotashCorp’s production.
To date, PotashCorp said the strike has had no impact on potash pricing.
The next three mines that PotashCorp has coming up for contract renewal are Lanigan (Jan. 31, 2009), Rocanville (May 31, 2009), and New Brunswick in late 2010. The company said these three mines are not represented by the USW, but instead by three separate bargaining units.