Down Under

From surface
to potash
a m i n i m i n e t o u r
A p r i l , 2 0 0 8
Quaternary
(glacial till: clay, sand,
gravel, boulders)
Cretaceous
(shales with some siltstone
and sandstone)
Cretaceous Blairmore
Formation
(sandstone and siltstone
with some claystone, major
regional aquifer)
Mississippian
Rocanville Division only
(limestone, shale and siltstone
at base of section)
Jurassic Lanigan Division only
(shale and siltstone)
Devonian
(limestone with some dolomite,
anhydrite, halite and shale,
contains aquifers)
Devonian Dawson Bay
Formation
(limestone with mudstone and
anhydrite, some halite, locally
water bearing)
Devonian Prairie
Evaporite
(halite with sylvinite-potash ore,
anhydrite, some dolomite)
Devonian Winnipegosis
Formation
(limestone, dolomite, anhydrite
mound forming)
Silurian
(dolomite, contains aquifers)
Ordovician
(dolomite with sandstone at
base of section, contains aquifer)
Cambrian
(sandstone, contains aquifer)
Precambrian
(granitic and metamorphic rock)
Ever wonder why there
is so much potash in
Saskatchewan?
Believe it or not, nearly 400
million years ago a vast sea
covered most of Saskatchewan,
Alberta, Montana, North Dakota
even the Northwest Territories.
Over time, a massive reef
complex slowly grew across the
northern part of the sea and
blocked it from the open ocean
in the north. That reef prevented
water from coming in from the
ocean, and the warm, dry
climate eventually evaporated
the water. Soon, all that was left
was a bed of mineral salts.
Today, these mineral salts lay
about 1,000 meters below the
ground.
The rock that is mined today
mainly contains crystals of two
common salt minerals: sylvite or
potassium chloride, and halite or
sodium chloride. Depending on
the location of the mine, other
mineral impurities like sand,
clays and red-colored iron
oxides are also present in the
ore. Saskatchewan potash
deposits are considered to be
the best in the world, with an
inherent low mining cost.
Lanigan
Potash
Suite 500 122 1st Avenue South 1101 Skokie Boulevard Suite 400
Saskatoon, SK Canada S7K 7G3 Northbrook, IL USA 60062
(306) 933-8500 (847) 849-4200
(800) 667-0403 (within Canada) (800) 241-6908
(800) 667-3930 (from the United States)
www.potashcorp.com
The Mine
Down here, we are closer to the earths core, so the temperature usually lingers
around 27 degrees Celsius, even when its 40 below on the surface. We travel down a
mine shaft in a cage attached to a hoist cable that is more than one kilometer long.
We have two shafts: one is for potash ore; one is for people and equipment, and both
are used to circulate fresh air through the mine. We can fit up to 37 adults into the cage
at one time.
Miners travel up to 21 kilometers in jeeps through a maze of tunnels, or drifts,
which lead to the active mine workings. Potash ore is mined and then brought up to
the surface to be crushed by our mill.
Sending our equipment up to the surface for repairs would be far too costly, so
we brought everything we need down here. Like an underground city, the mine
incorporates a maintenance shop, an electrical shop and a parts department.
Mining Machines
One of the machines we use is called the Marietta Miner. Weighing in at more
than 200 tonnes, this powerful and sophisticated machine can have either two or
four giant rotors that cut into the potash ore. By digging a path as wide as a two-car
garage, the Marietta Miner mines more than 10 tonnes of ore per minute. A series of
elaborately connected conveyor belts transports the ore from the mining machines
to the skip.
Ore Storage, the Ore Skip and the Hoist
A measuring bin ensures that the right amount of potash ore is loaded into the ore
skip. The ore is lifted to the surface at speeds of 550-1,100 meters per minute using
a powerful elevator called a hoist. Sturdy coil wires and a big wheel lift the ore
up to the top for unloading, while another skip gets loaded with ore at the bottom
of the shaft.
Mill Control Room
Welcome to the nerve center of the mill. Special instruments, gauges and
complex computer programs monitor the ore throughout the refining process.
The operator of the control room oversees and regulates important variables
such as temperatures, flow rates and the composition of the ore. The operator
also communicates with the other employees in the plant.
Crushing and Grinding; Desliming and Flotation
Upon unloading, the ore is dry-crushed and then ground into small pieces in a
solution called brine, which releases salt and potash crystals from the ore.
Potash ore is prepared for processing by scrubbing and separating certain impurities.
Powerful washing machines clean the clay off the pieces of salt and potash. Next,
process reagents are added into the salt, potash and brine mixture. These reagents
help separate the waste salt from the valuable potash particles in a process called
flotation. Air is introduced in the bottom of the mixture and potash particles
attach themselves to the bubbles as they rise to the surface, where they are collected.
The unaffected salt particles sink to the bottom, where they are discarded.
Drying, Sizing and Storing the Potash
Once the particles of potash are skimmed from the top of the tanks, theyre
dried in giant rotary ovens, where gas burner temperatures can be greater than
1,200 degrees Celsius. Once the potash particles are completely dry, we separate
them according to size. We can even remove fine potash dust particles from the
process air and convert them into useful granules. Huge mesh screens help us
classify the potash particles into granular, soluble, standard or suspension products.
Each mine has two shafts: one
is for our miners, the other is
for potash ore.
Miners travel up to 21
kilometers in jeeps that are
modified to operate
underground.
We use the four-rotor
continuous boring machine
(below) when the potash bed is
about 2.4 meters thick.
Warehouses at each of our mines
can store about 300,000 tonnes of
potash products. That amount of
potash could fill 3,000 rail cars
stretching more than 58 kilometers!
Potash requirements span the
globe. While potassium is used
mostly in fertilizers, it can also
be found in industrial chemicals,
water treatment products, soaps,
medicines, even computer and
television screens.
Mining Surface
Underground
Marietta Miner
(Conventional Method)
Mill Control Room
Rocanville
Of the six mines PotashCorp owns
and operates in North America,
Rocanville, Lanigan, Allan and Cory
use conventional mechanical
mining techniques, at depths of
about 1,000 meters.
When conventional underground
mines become unworkable, potash
can be extracted using solution
mining. Water is injected as a brine
and, with the capacity to dissolve
ore, it extracts potash from the
original pillars and walls. The brine is
pumped to the surface where the
potash is extracted. Patience Lake is
a solution mine.
Potash deposits at New Brunswick
are worked at depths of 400 to 700
meters within seven kilometers of the
main shaft by using the cut-and-fill
stope method.
Concentrator
Mining Machine
(Cut-and-Fill Stope Method)
Underground Fleet
Solution Mining
Cut-and-Fill Stope Method
Conventional Method
Warehouse
The Mine
Down here, we are closer to the earths core, so the temperature usually lingers
around 27 degrees Celsius, even when its 40 below on the surface. We travel down a
mine shaft in a cage attached to a hoist cable that is more than one kilometer long.
We have two shafts: one is for potash ore; one is for people and equipment, and both
are used to circulate fresh air through the mine. We can fit up to 37 adults into the cage
at one time.
Miners travel up to 21 kilometers in jeeps through a maze of tunnels, or drifts,
which lead to the active mine workings. Potash ore is mined and then brought up to
the surface to be crushed by our mill.
Sending our equipment up to the surface for repairs would be far too costly, so
we brought everything we need down here. Like an underground city, the mine
incorporates a maintenance shop, an electrical shop and a parts department.
Mining Machines
One of the machines we use is called the Marietta Miner. Weighing in at more
than 200 tonnes, this powerful and sophisticated machine can have either two or
four giant rotors that cut into the potash ore. By digging a path as wide as a two-car
garage, the Marietta Miner mines more than 10 tonnes of ore per minute. A series of
elaborately connected conveyor belts transports the ore from the mining machines
to the skip.
Ore Storage, the Ore Skip and the Hoist
A measuring bin ensures that the right amount of potash ore is loaded into the ore
skip. The ore is lifted to the surface at speeds of 550-1,100 meters per minute using
a powerful elevator called a hoist. Sturdy coil wires and a big wheel lift the ore
up to the top for unloading, while another skip gets loaded with ore at the bottom
of the shaft.
Mill Control Room
Welcome to the nerve center of the mill. Special instruments, gauges and
complex computer programs monitor the ore throughout the refining process.
The operator of the control room oversees and regulates important variables
such as temperatures, flow rates and the composition of the ore. The operator
also communicates with the other employees in the plant.
Crushing and Grinding; Desliming and Flotation
Upon unloading, the ore is dry-crushed and then ground into small pieces in a
solution called brine, which releases salt and potash crystals from the ore.
Potash ore is prepared for processing by scrubbing and separating certain impurities.
Powerful washing machines clean the clay off the pieces of salt and potash. Next,
process reagents are added into the salt, potash and brine mixture. These reagents
help separate the waste salt from the valuable potash particles in a process called
flotation. Air is introduced in the bottom of the mixture and potash particles
attach themselves to the bubbles as they rise to the surface, where they are collected.
The unaffected salt particles sink to the bottom, where they are discarded.
Drying, Sizing and Storing the Potash
Once the particles of potash are skimmed from the top of the tanks, theyre
dried in giant rotary ovens, where gas burner temperatures can be greater than
1,200 degrees Celsius. Once the potash particles are completely dry, we separate
them according to size. We can even remove fine potash dust particles from the
process air and convert them into useful granules. Huge mesh screens help us
classify the potash particles into granular, soluble, standard or suspension products.
Each mine has two shafts: one
is for our miners, the other is
for potash ore.
Miners travel up to 21
kilometers in jeeps that are
modified to operate
underground.
We use the four-rotor
continuous boring machine
(below) when the potash bed is
about 2.4 meters thick.
Warehouses at each of our mines
can store about 300,000 tonnes of
potash products. That amount of
potash could fill 3,000 rail cars
stretching more than 58 kilometers!
Potash requirements span the
globe. While potassium is used
mostly in fertilizers, it can also
be found in industrial chemicals,
water treatment products, soaps,
medicines, even computer and
television screens.
Mining Surface
Underground
Marietta Miner
(Conventional Method)
Mill Control Room
Rocanville
Of the six mines PotashCorp owns
and operates in North America,
Rocanville, Lanigan, Allan and Cory
use conventional mechanical
mining techniques, at depths of
about 1,000 meters.
When conventional underground
mines become unworkable, potash
can be extracted using solution
mining. Water is injected as a brine
and, with the capacity to dissolve
ore, it extracts potash from the
original pillars and walls. The brine is
pumped to the surface where the
potash is extracted. Patience Lake is
a solution mine.
Potash deposits at New Brunswick
are worked at depths of 400 to 700
meters within seven kilometers of the
main shaft by using the cut-and-fill
stope method.
Concentrator
Mining Machine
(Cut-and-Fill Stope Method)
Underground Fleet
Solution Mining
Cut-and-Fill Stope Method
Conventional Method
Warehouse
The Mine
Down here, we are closer to the earths core, so the temperature usually lingers
around 27 degrees Celsius, even when its 40 below on the surface. We travel down a
mine shaft in a cage attached to a hoist cable that is more than one kilometer long.
We have two shafts: one is for potash ore; one is for people and equipment, and both
are used to circulate fresh air through the mine. We can fit up to 37 adults into the cage
at one time.
Miners travel up to 21 kilometers in jeeps through a maze of tunnels, or drifts,
which lead to the active mine workings. Potash ore is mined and then brought up to
the surface to be crushed by our mill.
Sending our equipment up to the surface for repairs would be far too costly, so
we brought everything we need down here. Like an underground city, the mine
incorporates a maintenance shop, an electrical shop and a parts department.
Mining Machines
One of the machines we use is called the Marietta Miner. Weighing in at more
than 200 tonnes, this powerful and sophisticated machine can have either two or
four giant rotors that cut into the potash ore. By digging a path as wide as a two-car
garage, the Marietta Miner mines more than 10 tonnes of ore per minute. A series of
elaborately connected conveyor belts transports the ore from the mining machines
to the skip.
Ore Storage, the Ore Skip and the Hoist
A measuring bin ensures that the right amount of potash ore is loaded into the ore
skip. The ore is lifted to the surface at speeds of 550-1,100 meters per minute using
a powerful elevator called a hoist. Sturdy coil wires and a big wheel lift the ore
up to the top for unloading, while another skip gets loaded with ore at the bottom
of the shaft.
Mill Control Room
Welcome to the nerve center of the mill. Special instruments, gauges and
complex computer programs monitor the ore throughout the refining process.
The operator of the control room oversees and regulates important variables
such as temperatures, flow rates and the composition of the ore. The operator
also communicates with the other employees in the plant.
Crushing and Grinding; Desliming and Flotation
Upon unloading, the ore is dry-crushed and then ground into small pieces in a
solution called brine, which releases salt and potash crystals from the ore.
Potash ore is prepared for processing by scrubbing and separating certain impurities.
Powerful washing machines clean the clay off the pieces of salt and potash. Next,
process reagents are added into the salt, potash and brine mixture. These reagents
help separate the waste salt from the valuable potash particles in a process called
flotation. Air is introduced in the bottom of the mixture and potash particles
attach themselves to the bubbles as they rise to the surface, where they are collected.
The unaffected salt particles sink to the bottom, where they are discarded.
Drying, Sizing and Storing the Potash
Once the particles of potash are skimmed from the top of the tanks, theyre
dried in giant rotary ovens, where gas burner temperatures can be greater than
1,200 degrees Celsius. Once the potash particles are completely dry, we separate
them according to size. We can even remove fine potash dust particles from the
process air and convert them into useful granules. Huge mesh screens help us
classify the potash particles into granular, soluble, standard or suspension products.
Each mine has two shafts: one
is for our miners, the other is
for potash ore.
Miners travel up to 21
kilometers in jeeps that are
modified to operate
underground.
We use the four-rotor
continuous boring machine
(below) when the potash bed is
about 2.4 meters thick.
Warehouses at each of our mines
can store about 300,000 tonnes of
potash products. That amount of
potash could fill 3,000 rail cars
stretching more than 58 kilometers!
Potash requirements span the
globe. While potassium is used
mostly in fertilizers, it can also
be found in industrial chemicals,
water treatment products, soaps,
medicines, even computer and
television screens.
Mining Surface
Underground
Marietta Miner
(Conventional Method)
Mill Control Room
Rocanville
Of the six mines PotashCorp owns
and operates in North America,
Rocanville, Lanigan, Allan and Cory
use conventional mechanical
mining techniques, at depths of
about 1,000 meters.
When conventional underground
mines become unworkable, potash
can be extracted using solution
mining. Water is injected as a brine
and, with the capacity to dissolve
ore, it extracts potash from the
original pillars and walls. The brine is
pumped to the surface where the
potash is extracted. Patience Lake is
a solution mine.
Potash deposits at New Brunswick
are worked at depths of 400 to 700
meters within seven kilometers of the
main shaft by using the cut-and-fill
stope method.
Concentrator
Mining Machine
(Cut-and-Fill Stope Method)
Underground Fleet
Solution Mining
Cut-and-Fill Stope Method
Conventional Method
Warehouse
Down Under
From surface
to potash
a m i n i m i n e t o u r
A p r i l , 2 0 0 8
Quaternary
(glacial till: clay, sand,
gravel, boulders)
Cretaceous
(shales with some siltstone
and sandstone)
Cretaceous Blairmore
Formation
(sandstone and siltstone
with some claystone, major
regional aquifer)
Mississippian
Rocanville Division only
(limestone, shale and siltstone
at base of section)
Jurassic Lanigan Division only
(shale and siltstone)
Devonian
(limestone with some dolomite,
anhydrite, halite and shale,
contains aquifers)
Devonian Dawson Bay
Formation
(limestone with mudstone and
anhydrite, some halite, locally
water bearing)
Devonian Prairie
Evaporite
(halite with sylvinite-potash ore,
anhydrite, some dolomite)
Devonian Winnipegosis
Formation
(limestone, dolomite, anhydrite
mound forming)
Silurian
(dolomite, contains aquifers)
Ordovician
(dolomite with sandstone at
base of section, contains aquifer)
Cambrian
(sandstone, contains aquifer)
Precambrian
(granitic and metamorphic rock)
Ever wonder why there
is so much potash in
Saskatchewan?
Believe it or not, nearly 400
million years ago a vast sea
covered most of Saskatchewan,
Alberta, Montana, North Dakota
even the Northwest Territories.
Over time, a massive reef
complex slowly grew across the
northern part of the sea and
blocked it from the open ocean
in the north. That reef prevented
water from coming in from the
ocean, and the warm, dry
climate eventually evaporated
the water. Soon, all that was left
was a bed of mineral salts.
Today, these mineral salts lay
about 1,000 meters below the
ground.
The rock that is mined today
mainly contains crystals of two
common salt minerals: sylvite or
potassium chloride, and halite or
sodium chloride. Depending on
the location of the mine, other
mineral impurities like sand,
clays and red-colored iron
oxides are also present in the
ore. Saskatchewan potash
deposits are considered to be
the best in the world, with an
inherent low mining cost.
Lanigan
Potash
Suite 500 122 1st Avenue South 1101 Skokie Boulevard Suite 400
Saskatoon, SK Canada S7K 7G3 Northbrook, IL USA 60062
(306) 933-8500 (847) 849-4200
(800) 667-0403 (within Canada) (800) 241-6908
(800) 667-3930 (from the United States)
www.potashcorp.com
Down Under
From surface
to potash
a m i n i m i n e t o u r
A p r i l , 2 0 0 8
Quaternary
(glacial till: clay, sand,
gravel, boulders)
Cretaceous
(shales with some siltstone
and sandstone)
Cretaceous Blairmore
Formation
(sandstone and siltstone
with some claystone, major
regional aquifer)
Mississippian
Rocanville Division only
(limestone, shale and siltstone
at base of section)
Jurassic Lanigan Division only
(shale and siltstone)
Devonian
(limestone with some dolomite,
anhydrite, halite and shale,
contains aquifers)
Devonian Dawson Bay
Formation
(limestone with mudstone and
anhydrite, some halite, locally
water bearing)
Devonian Prairie
Evaporite
(halite with sylvinite-potash ore,
anhydrite, some dolomite)
Devonian Winnipegosis
Formation
(limestone, dolomite, anhydrite
mound forming)
Silurian
(dolomite, contains aquifers)
Ordovician
(dolomite with sandstone at
base of section, contains aquifer)
Cambrian
(sandstone, contains aquifer)
Precambrian
(granitic and metamorphic rock)
Ever wonder why there
is so much potash in
Saskatchewan?
Believe it or not, nearly 400
million years ago a vast sea
covered most of Saskatchewan,
Alberta, Montana, North Dakota
even the Northwest Territories.
Over time, a massive reef
complex slowly grew across the
northern part of the sea and
blocked it from the open ocean
in the north. That reef prevented
water from coming in from the
ocean, and the warm, dry
climate eventually evaporated
the water. Soon, all that was left
was a bed of mineral salts.
Today, these mineral salts lay
about 1,000 meters below the
ground.
The rock that is mined today
mainly contains crystals of two
common salt minerals: sylvite or
potassium chloride, and halite or
sodium chloride. Depending on
the location of the mine, other
mineral impurities like sand,
clays and red-colored iron
oxides are also present in the
ore. Saskatchewan potash
deposits are considered to be
the best in the world, with an
inherent low mining cost.
Lanigan
Potash
Suite 500 122 1st Avenue South 1101 Skokie Boulevard Suite 400
Saskatoon, SK Canada S7K 7G3 Northbrook, IL USA 60062
(306) 933-8500 (847) 849-4200
(800) 667-0403 (within Canada) (800) 241-6908
(800) 667-3930 (from the United States)
www.potashcorp.com