Author: Dorothy Kosich, Mineweb.com
The 340 employees at the Penobsquis potash mine near the town of Sussex, New Brunswick, had only returned to their jobs in October when Potash Corp of Saskatchewan ordered another eight-week shutdown at the operation.
About 10% of those employees had just returned their jobs last Sunday. Now they will be faced with the fourth shutdown in a year at the mine, which will take effect on January 17, 2010.
Mark Francchia, general manager for PotashCorp's New Brunswick operations, told the CBC he hopes to keep moving potash inventory through the Port of Saint John during the shutdown. The International Longshoremen's Association told the CBC potash work used to account for 50% of the workers' annual salaries when they moved in excess of one million tonnes of potash and salt. They estimate business has dropped by 70% this year.
Three prior eight-week inventory shut-downs and a four-week scheduled maintenance break have already taken place at the mine. The Penobsquis mine produces 785,000 pounds of potash and 600,000 tonnes of salt annually.
PotashCorp temporarily laid off 940 workers at three Canadian mines in April. By October the company laid off 700 employees in Saskatchewan.Two mines are located near Sussex, the operation at Penobsquis and another at Cassidy Lake which has been shutdown. However, PotashCorp is now constructing a new $1.67 billion Picadilly mine near Cassidy Lake. The project is expected to generate 140 full-time jobs when it is completed by 2011.
During a speech last week, PotashCorp CEO Bill Doyle said, "So in the history of the fertilizer industry, this is the most serious decline in consumption and with the most rapidity, I mean, the quick severe decline, so we have never seen anything quite like this."
"But we'll have shutdowns in the first quarter, we've already announced shutdowns that will carry over into the new year, so we'll see at the producer level - as this market opens up and reengages in the first quarter, we'll see inventories start to tighten at the producer level, and then you'll see a more normal operating rate in the last three-quarters of the year."
Doyle said he is very optimistic about the return of potash demand next year, but suggested the company will only produce 50 million tonnes of potash.