Nutrien Ltd., Saskatoon, confirmed on Dec. 18 that it will keep its Vanscoy potash mine down through the end of January, citing market conditions. Some 265 employees will be affected.
Vanscoy was originally to come back up at the end of December. The idled Allan and Lanigan mines are expected to return to production on Dec. 29 as previously planned.
“With Allan and Lanigan returning to operations we will have the network capacity to meet near-term potash demand,” Nutrien spokesman Will Tigley told Bloomberg.
Nutrien announced in September (GM Sept. 13, p. 1) that it would be taking the Vanscoy, Allan, and Lanigan mines down for an eight-week period, a move that would reduce production by up to 700,000 mt and potash annual EBITDA by as much as US$100-$150 million. In addition, prodded by the CN rail strike, the company opted to take the Rocanville mine down for two weeks in December (GM Nov. 29. p. 1).