With a potash mining depth of 1,021 meters, Cory has an annual capacity of 1.4 million tonnes KCI, and is unique among PotashCorp Potash underground operations because it produces only white muriate of potash products. It has 233 active employees.

The Cory mine uses stress relief mining techniques developed specifically for the mine. This provides a stable, safe work environment while allowing the efficient extraction of ore.

The mine employs five two-rotor continuous mining machines. Each machine cuts a 3.3 meter by 5.5 meter profile (11 feet by 18 feet wide) and can produce 600 tonnes per hour. Once mined, the ore passes directly from the miner onto a mobile conveyor system which transports the ore to the main conveyor system, where it is transported to underground storage bins and then hoisted to the surface.

The milling process starts with crushing the ore, which then goes to thermal leach tanks where the KCl is dissolved out of the ore. The brine is clarified and pumped to crystallizers where it is cooled, precipitating white, high-purity KCl. The slurry is centrifuged to remove brine, dried and sent to the screening area.

The potash, graded for application as fertilizer and industrial products such as the water softener Softouch and an ice melt, is stored in four warehouses with a combined capacity of 179,000 tonnes.

Transportation:
Rail – More than 90 percent of the product from Cory travels by Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railways to centers throughout North America for domestic sales or to ports for delivery offshore.

Waterways – A portion of the product is exported through Canpotex, the export company owned by all Saskatchewan potash producers, from the West Coast, the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico.

Road – Product is also shipped by truck to local markets.

Uses:
Cory produces granular, soluble and industrial grade potash for agriculture and industrial use in water softeners and in the production of such items as computer screens, soaps and pharmaceuticals.

Markets:
More than half of potash sales go offshore. In China, where farmers grow two or three crops a year, rice is the largest consumer. In Brazil, most is used on soybean, sugar cane and corn. In Malaysia, oil palm is the largest consumer of potash. In the US, corn is the major consumer of potash.