BHP Ltd., Melbourne, said this week the Jansen potash mine project under development in Saskatchewan continues on track, with good progress on the shafts, in the underground mining systems, and at the Westshore Terminal in Delta, B.C.
The project to complete the excavation and lining of the mine’s production and service shafts and the installation of essential surface infrastructure and utilities is now 99 percent complete, the mining group said in its operational review for the nine months ended March 31, released on April 21. This is up from 96 percent complete at the end of December (GM Jan. 21, p. 34).
The Jansen Stage 1 project, which comprises the design, engineering, and construction of the underground mine and surface infrastructure and will have capacity to produce 4.35 million mt/y of potassium chloride, is currently 5 percent complete, up from 3 percent at the end of December.
BHP’s Board last August gave the final investment approval for Jansen Stage 1 to go-ahead (GM Aug. 20, 2021). Completion of Stage 1 continues to be targeted for calendar 2027.
BHP Canada Inc., a subsidiary of BHP Group and Vancouver-based Westshore Terminals LP, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Westshore Terminals Investment Corp., signed an agreement last July for the terminal company to provide port services to the Jansen potash mine when it becomes operational (GM July 23, 2021). Certain existing infrastructure is being modified at the terminal to support the handling of potash at the facility’s berth 2.