Reported that it expected to spend Cdn $152 million, plus capitalized interest, in 2008 on our 2-million-tonne-per-year potash mine and expanded milling operations in New Brunswick. The four-year construction project has an estimated cost of Cdn $1,660 million, plus capitalized interest, which includes Cdn $100 million for additional upgraded granular production capability. Construction of the mill expansion is expected to be complete at the end of the fourth quarter of 2011.
In 2007, PotashCorp announced that a $1.67 billion expansion would take place at the New Brunswick division in 2011. This will involve a new 2-million-tonne mine and a 1.2-million-tonne enhancement to the existing mill. The company received a positive environmental impact assessment for the project referred to as Picadilly late in the year.
An ongoing operational challenge for the mine continues to be brine inflow. Initiatives in 2007 to inject grout into the inflow zone, along with sustained drilling and grouting efforts underground, have sealed at least some of the flow paths through the siltstone and helped to stabilize the formation.
Significant production achievements in 2007 included record volumes for white muriate production and for granular production.
In 1997, the mine set production records for both salt and potash.
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