Saskatoon-AMEC, an international project management and services company, said Aug. 27 that is has agreed to create a new mine and expand existing operations in New Brunswick for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. AMEC will provide engineering, procurement, and construction management services for the estimated C$1.7 billion (US$1.6 billion) project. The project, which is awaiting regulatory approval, will take four years to complete. “We will manage the expansion and development of the new mine while allowing the existing facilities to continue producing 750,000 mt per year,” said AMEC’s Will Brandsema, vice president and manager of the Picadilly project. “While this makes the project more challenging, we will leverage the company’s existing assets and reduce the capital cost by up to one-third of a new potash operation.” When completed, the new mine is expected to produce 2 million mt of potash a year from the Picadilly deposit in New Brunswick. AMEC is currently expanding PotashCorp’s Lanigan and Cory operations. These projects, combined with the Picadilly project, will boost production by 39 percent, to 14.9 million mt/y by 2011.
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