Power outage strands Agrium workers overnight

Calgary-A power outage near Agrium Inc.’s Vanscoy potash mine Sunday, March 7, kept 41 workers in the mine overnight. General Manager Mike Dirham told Green Markets the miners, whose normal shift was 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., were never in any danger. In fact, the miners were able to leave the mine at 9:30 a.m., Monday, March 8, just an hour and thirty minutes off schedule, after an emergency generator was used to get them out. An earlier attempt at 4:30 a.m. with the generator was not successful. The workers, some 1,100 meters below the surface, had their battery-powered lamps, as well as access to water, fresh air, and washroom facilities. They were in communication with the surface the entire time. Vanscoy’s mill was also hit by the outage, as were 1,600 local residents. Power returned to local residents around 5 a.m. Monday morning and to Agrium at 2 p.m. Dirham said the facility was able to return to normal by Tuesday afternoon, March 9.