Aurora, North Carolina – Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. (PotashCorp) today announced a $250,000 donation to the Beaufort County United Way for the PotashCorp/BCUW Hurricane Irene Fund.  The fund will be used to support relief efforts in and around Aurora, North Carolina following the hurricane that struck the American East Coast last weekend. PotashCorp has approximately 1,100 employees at its Aurora phosphate facility located in Beaufort County.

The employees of Aurora division achieved 1 million hours without a lost time accident on July 3, 2010.

(L to R) John Thomas, Lucy Grist, Mike Gwynn, Ray Frank — East Carolina Council, BSA; Bill Doyle, Steve Beckel — PotashCorp

The employees of Aurora division achieved 1 million hours without a lost time accident on September 28, 2009.

He may be a middle-aged paleontologist with a salt-and-pepper beard, but the Smithsonian Institution's Dave Bohaska sounds a bit like a youngster on a quest for buried treasure when he contemplates fossil hunting at PCS Phosphate Aurora."Boy, it would be just great to find a nice, relatively unbroken skull of a walrus," said Bohaska, a collections manager in the Department of Paleobiology at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. "I'd love to get walrus bones. I think in all the years I've collected I've found only two, and they weren't skulls."Bohaska will get another chance to find his treasured fossil next year at the annual Aurora Fossil Festival in Aurora, North Carolina – the Smithsonian sends representatives to the festival each year and Bohaska is a regular emissary. But while the skull remained elusive at the 2009 festival held in late May, he said the event was great fun. And there were a few noteworthy moments, as well, including one that occurred while he was sitting at a table identifying and interpreting specimens brought in by amateur fossil hunters."A woman came in and asked me to identify a whale vertebra," he said, adding: "In her car! It was too big to lug in." PCS Phosphate Aurora has been a bonanza for fossils. Bohaska said his museum houses "tens of thousands" of relatively rare bird bone fossils extracted from the mine area. He said it's also one of the richest marine mammal fossil sites in the world, based on the number of species represented – marine mammal fossils are Bohaska's area of expertise.Food is at the root of PCS Aurora's status as a superb resource for fossil hounds.Scientists believe that millions of years ago the Aurora region was part of an area of ocean where upwelling currents brought rich nutrients from the bottom to the surface. Creatures ranging from microorganisms to whales, porpoises, seals and sharks flourished in this milieu. "There's a lot of fossils there because there was a lot of food."Today, it's the mining of phosphate, one of the primary uses of which is to enhance growth of food crops, that has opened the door to paleontologists seeking knowledge of Earth's pre-history, and to amateur fossil collectors who thrill in hunting for vestiges of a world different from – yet directly connected to – the one they inhabit.Bohaska always looks forward to the Aurora festival and says he's made a lot of friends there over the years. But he admits there's a bit of selfishness to his visits, as well."Sometimes people have walked into that festival with things we've asked them to donate."Perhaps next year will be the year of the walrus skull.

The biggest environmental accomplishment last year at PotashCorp's Aurora, North Carolina phosphate facility was what didn't happen.In 2007, the facility did not have a single regulatory permit excursion or Reportable Quantity Release.The site usually has very few regulatory excursions, but a perfect year is remarkable. "Just consider that the facility goes through more than 40,000 measurements annually to show that it's complying with regulatory rules and permits," said Ross Smith, Aurora Manager of Environmental Affairs. Most of these measurements test the facility's gyp stacks, groundwater and water conveyance sources such as pipes and ditches, which are regulated by the US National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit program."The only way to achieve this is to have total attention to detail, and a workforce that truly understands the concept of seeking no harm to the environment, every day," Smith said. "With our emphasis on discussing the facility's environmental impact, I'm sure everyone has really taken environmental compliance to heart." The Aurora facility is seeking permits from the US Army Corps of Engineers to continue mining in the area. The process has involved community input and several environmental impact studies. The Army Corps is consulting with a review team of 11 federal and state agencies and two environmental organizations."As we go through this process, we are demonstrating to the community and to local, state and federal officials that we are good stewards of the land here in Aurora," Smith said. "I think our continued attention to regulatory compliance is a great example of how all of us at PotashCorp are dedicated to environmental stewardship."

PCS Phosphate of Aurora, North Carolina has presented a $157,600 donation to the Beaufort County United Way.PCS Phosphate has consistently contributed to the local United Way. With $78,800 of donations from employees and the company-matched amount, a new giving record was reached, exceeding last year's total by 25 percent."Our employees want to assist organizations and individuals who need it most," said Richard Atwood, General Manager, Aurora. " We hope this donation will give United Way a boost to help our community." "Every year they completely blow the socks off any goal they set," expressed Carol Atwater, Executive Director, Beaufort County United Way. "PCS Phosphate is by far our largest corporate donor."Beaufort County United Way is a non-profit organization assisting those in need by partnering with 19 local organizations to provide essential community support. For more info about PotashCorp giving, view the latest Sustainability Report or Community Investment.