Sixty years of expertise, new Indigenous ownership
After more than six decades of potash extraction across Treaty 4 and 6 territories, Kawacatoose First Nation now owns a big part of that very supply chain.
In December 2025, Kawacatoose First Nation and Marc Collette finalized the acquisition of Mine Supply Company, the Saskatoon-based supplier that has served Saskatchewan’s potash sector since Jim Balfour and Warren Champ founded it in 1966. Kawacatoose holds majority ownership; Collette—Mine Supply’s VP since 2018—remains as operating partner in the role of CEO and president, ensuring operational continuity with the team that has built relationships across every potash operation in the province.
For operators struggling to meet Indigenous procurement commitments, the timing solves a longstanding problem. Since BHP’s Jansen project sanctioned Stage 1 in 2021, $850 million in contracts have been awarded to Indigenous businesses—but mostly in construction and civil work, a pattern reflected at mining operations Canada. Supply chain procurement has lagged because qualified Indigenous suppliers with technical expertise and enterprise system integration haven’t existed at industrial scale. Until now.
Investing in a legacy supplier
Kawacatoose’s investment in Mine Supply Company secures ownership of a proven operation built on relationships, technical capability, and operational integration. Since 1966, Mine Supply has established vendor partnerships with premium North American and international manufacturers of crushing and conveyor systems, mobile equipment, ground support, ventilation, MRO supplies, and more—delivering not just products but custom solutions developed collaboratively with clients on-site at surface and underground.
The company’s value extends beyond distribution. Mine Supply’s team includes operators, mechanics, millwrights, and procurement specialists with experience spanning all stages of mining operations. They work directly at client sites to solve operational challenges before they impact production, taking an end-to-end view of the supply chain that anticipates risks, optimizes inventory, and ensures critical components are available when needed. The company has also expanded custom manufacturing and assembly capacity, controlling more links in the supply chain to minimize costs and improve lead time accuracy.
Critical to operators, Mine Supply’s developing technology platform will support better integration with SAP, Ariba, and other ERP systems, providing a streamlined procurement process that reduces administrative burden.
“The barrier to Indigenous participation in the mining sector isn’t capital, it’s knowledge and relationships,” says Collette, who has more than two decades of experience in mining. “Operators need suppliers who understand their specifications, integrate with their procurement systems, and deliver reliably at industrial scale. Kawacatoose recognized that investing in the sector by buying a legacy company gives them that capability immediately—with the same team and service standards clients depend on.”
All existing Mine Supply employees remain with the company, preserving the technical expertise and client relationships that operators depend on. The expertise stays. The relationships stay. What changes is ownership structure—and where profits flow. Revenues now benefit Kawacatoose’s more than 2,200 members, funding community development, education initiatives, and economic infrastructure that builds long-term prosperity for the Nation.
Strategic investment in Saskatchewan’s diverse resource sector
The acquisition represents Kawacatoose’s strategic move from seeking opportunities to owning an active operator in Saskatchewan’s mining economy. For decades, Nation leadership has made efforts to maintain regular dialogue with operators and contractors to better understand industry needs, while struggling to identify pathways for meaningful participation. Ownership of a legacy supplier secures a seat at the table—and a voice—in an industry operating on traditional territory, one that has historically limited Indigenous participation. Mine Supply provides that pathway through accountable ownership of a proven supplier already embedded in the resource sector’s operations and procurement systems.
“Buying Mine Supply is a strategic investment that empowers our participation in the resource sector, and not just in potash,” says Chief Lee-Anne Kehler, Kawacatoose’s first female chief, elected in 2021. “Operators will get the same reliability they expect, and Kawacatoose Development Corporation will gain revenues that support the Nation as we grow our sovereign economy.”
With Kawacatoose’s home reserve centrally positioned among Saskatchewan’s 11 active potash operations, the Nation is developing on-reserve training programs in supply chain management, procurement, and technical sales, and exploring warehousing options to support operations as the sector scales—particularly with BHP’s Jansen project reaching full production in 2026.
What changes for operators
What changes is procurement classification. Major operators including BHP, Nutrien, Mosaic, and K+S hold contractual Indigenous procurement commitments they’ve struggled to meet—not from lack of intent, but from lack of qualified Indigenous suppliers who can deliver at the technical standards and scale their operations require. Mine Supply purchases now count toward those targets without compromising the service reliability operators have depended on since 1966.
Across Saskatchewan’s potash sector, operators have committed to Indigenous procurement frameworks—from BHP’s 2013 Opportunities Agreement with Kawacatoose, Day Star, and Muskowekwan First Nations, to Nutrien’s Indigenous Content Playbook targeting Indigenous supplier participation, to similar commitments from Mosaic and K+S. These frameworks created market access that didn’t exist a decade ago. What’s been missing are Indigenous-owned suppliers with the technical capability and operational scale to fulfill them. With Mine Supply, those commitments convert to measurable outcomes—Indigenous ownership of a qualified supplier already integrated into regional procurement systems and serving multiple operators across the province.
For Kawacatoose’s more than 2,200 members, the acquisition delivers tangible economic outcomes. Profits flow to the Nation. Training programs create career pathways into supply chain management and technical roles. Employment opportunities build community capacity. And ownership ensures economic benefits stay within the Nation rather than flowing to external shareholders.
Sixty years of expertise. Indigenous ownership. And a supply chain solution that works for operators, community, and an industry finally creating space for First Nations participation at scale. Find out more at minesupplyco.com.
