Saskatchewan is home to the largest potash industry in the world and every operating potash mine in Canada, making up 45 per cent of the world’s known reserves. As the potash industry has developed in Saskatchewan and around the world, SRC has provided technological support from its early days until now, helping to address the potash industry’s challenges and growth along the way.
“We have served the industry from the beginning, from technological solutions to our analytical capabilities,” says Bernard Gartner, Strategic Growth and Business Development Director in SRC’s Mining and Minerals Division. “As one of the leading science and technology providers in the province, we will continue to serve the industry as technology continues to advance.”
In The Beginning
The province’s history with potash, a key ingredient in fertilizers, began in 1941 after a discovery near Radville during oil drilling. Potash in Saskatchewan occurs in the Prairie Evaporite Deposit, the largest known potash deposit in the world. More discoveries were made in the 1940s and 1950s, and eventually geologists mapped the extent of the Prairie Evaporite, determining that it extends from central to south-central Saskatchewan (with a few kilometers in Manitoba).
Production from the Prairie Evaporite was impeded in some places by issues with water inflow from a shallower formation, during the sinking of mine shafts; a problem that was solved through an innovative engineering technique to freeze the water-bearing formation.
It was during this time that the almost decade-old SRC began its work in potash when the Industrial Minerals branch of the Saskatchewan Department of Mineral Resources moved into SRC in 1956. This branch, and then SRC, conducted field and laboratory work in minerals, including potash for the development of fertilizer. 1958 brought the first working potash mine into production at Patience Lake near Saskatoon.
Ramping Up
The industry began in earnest with the opening of a second mine in 1961 near Esterhazy. The early 1960s saw a ramp up of the mineral work being done at SRC, which included potash resource characterization, potash solution mining and flotation process development. By 1970, the province was home to ten mines managed by 12 companies.
As potash development expanded in the 1970s, so did SRC’s work for the industry. SRC conducted significant mineral exploration programs for potash in southern Saskatchewan and supported research into solution mining for the sector.
In the 1970s, SRC’s Engineering Division pipeline group—now the Pipe Flow Technology Centre™—had established itself as a leading centre for research and development in the hydraulic transportation of solid materials and was supporting the potash industry’s technological development.
In 1978, an SRC team first monitored particulate emissions from large industrial stacks to assist with regulatory compliance—a move requested by the potash industry. A year later, the program expanded into radon, coal emissions, dust and a broad range of pollutants.
In the 1980s, the Pipe Flow Technology Centre team continued to work with industry on potash tailings transport challenges. SRC also had a new multi-purpose mineral processing pilot plant and assisted with developing new mining and milling methods, including potash solution mining.
Read the rest of the story on SRC’s blog to learn about the 2000s and onwards
