Members from the PotashCorp Allan Division Mine Rescue Team work to extinguish a fire in the fire-fighting event

(L to R) Lorrie Bunko, Executive Director Michelle Bankowski, Chair Equipment Campaign Team Rob Bubnik, General Manager PotashCorp Lanigan Pat Witt, Chair HDHF Board of Directors

PotashCorp Lanigan is helping to improve the health and well being of people in its surrounding community by matching up to a total of $500,000 in donations to help fund equipment for the new Humboldt District Health Complex.PotashCorp Lanigan General Manager Rob Bubnick told a gathering in Humboldt, located about 20 minutes from the mine, their city is "an integral part of our mine community." He said when representatives of "Our Legacy . . . Our Future" fundraising campaign asked the company about assistance in raising $1.8 million required for facility equipment, PotashCorp wanted to do more than make a donation."We wanted to encourage everyone in this community and this region – individuals, businesses, community groups and sports teams – to join the effort to raise $1.8 million for the new health complex," Bubnick said.One of the best ways to do that, he added, is to match contributions from all individuals and groups, effectively doubling donations and impact.PCS Potash President Garth Moore told the group the magic of matching donations from the community is that it encourages everyone to donate."We're providing leverage to help communities like Humboldt make things happen," Moore said.The matched funding campaign runs to June 30, 2010.

Additional Mine and Mill Expansions AnnouncedWith very strong demand for fertilizer continuing around the world, PotashCorp renewed its commitment to provide even more potash supply through development of an additional 2.7 million tonnes of capacity at three of its Saskatchewan facilities. The new projects will raise the company's operational capacity to 18 million tonnes by the end of 2012.At a combined cost of $1.6 billion, this capacity increase, announced in July, will be achieved through a new debottlenecking project at Allan and increases in the scope of projects announced in 2007 for Cory and Rocanville.The Allan debottlenecking will add 1 million tonnes of annual production capability and raise its annual capacity to 3 million tonnes per year. This estimated $350 million project follows a 400,000-tonne expansion completed in 2007.At Cory, the new project will add 1 million tonnes to a 1.2-million-tonne-per-year debottlenecking and expansion project initiated in 2007. The initial project is scheduled for completion in 2010, with construction and ramp-up of the new project completed by the end of 2012. The additional work has an estimated cost of $220 million and will raise the facility's annual capacity to 3 million tonnes.At Rocanville, an additional 700,000 tonnes of capacity will be incorporated into the 2-million-tonne mine and mill project announced in 2007. With an additional investment of $1 billion, the project is expected to add a total of 2.7 million tonnes at a cost of $2.8 billion, raising the facility's annual capacity to 5.7 million tonnes. Construction is scheduled for completion at the end of 2012 with ramp-up over the following two years."At PotashCorp, we have a unique capability to respond to demand because we have more mines than anyone else, giving us more opportunities to bring on idle capacity or brownfield expansions," said PotashCorp President and CEO Bill Doyle."Essentially, we are going from just over 10 million tonnes of production capacity this year to 18 million tonnes over the next six years, which is far quicker than anyone else in the world can respond."With demand for potash driven by GDP growth and rising population, it's expected that demand will accelerate. "World growth is not going away, so we believe potash demand should be strong for the foreseeable future," Doyle said.Lanigan Celebrates Grand OpeningOf the company's previously announced expansion projects, its Cdn $420 million debottlenecking and compaction expansion at Lanigan was celebrated with a grand opening in July. Company officials noted the project was completed on schedule, on budget and with the ability to meet its production obligations for the year."The mill is finished and the mine is ready to feed the plant," said Clark Bailey, Vice President, Manufacturing and Technical. "We will be able to make leaps forward as each of the two new mining machines are delivered and assembled."Parts for the first of two new mining machines are already being delivered to the plant. These parts will be moved underground where the first machine will begin being assembled immediately. The second of the two new mining machines is scheduled to begin assembly in the first quarter of 2009 after receipt of its components.While it will take several more months for Lanigan to ramp-up to final, total added capacity of 1.5 million tonnes, the project has moved along well, considering this portion of the mill sat idle since the mid-1980s.The work completed at Lanigan includes new mill structures and equipment, along with upgraded mine hoists and other underground equipment to help support the higher annual production.Lanigan is just one of several projects underway at PotashCorp sites to keep up with the world's demand for this critical crop nutrient. The company is making large capital investments to return long-idled capacity to production and to expand operations.Patience Lake Moves AheadIn 2007, the company also announced that its Patience Lake project, which is expected to bring back 360,000 tonnes of previously idled potash capacity, was on budget and ahead of schedule. The estimated cost of the project is Cdn $106 million and is expected to be completed late 2008/early 2009. Nine new injection wells will come into production in fall of 2008, ahead of schedule, while another eight wells are scheduled to come on stream in 2009. In total PotashCorp increased the number of new injection wells to 22, greatly expanding the solution-mining base.Patience Lake was a conventional potash mine before flooding made it unworkable. It was converted to a solution mine in 1988. Today, potash in Patience Lake is mined by injecting heated brine into the underground mine workings. The heated brine dissolves potash from the walls and pillars of the mine, and the resulting brine, now rich with potash, is pumped back up to surface and piped to a cooling pond. As the brine cools, potash crystallizes, separating from the sodium chloride salt and settles to the bottom of the pond, where it is removed with floating dredges and pumped to the mill.Cory Fast-Tracking and Meeting ObjectivesThe Cory expansion, initiated in 2007, is also moving along well. For a project of its size and complexity, it is a relatively "fast-track" project that involves building a complete new wet mill and compaction circuit for a new red potash product. Cory currently makes all white potash products.The plant's current production capacity is 800,000 tonnes per year. The initial 2007 project would increase the production total at Cory to 2 million tonnes per year. The 2007-initiated Cory project is scheduled to be ready to begin commissioning by the end of the second quarter of 2010. The final capacity of 3 million tonnes per year (an additional 1 million tonnes increase announced in July 2008) will be realized over the next two years in steps. The project is currently on budget and on schedule to obtain these goals.There is no difference in the agronomic value of red and white granular Muriate of Potash (MOP), according to the International Plant Nutrition Institute. The difference in color between the two is due to minor amounts of iron in the red material. Whether red or white, MOP is an excellent source of, not just one, but two nutrients essential for crop growth and health – potassium and chloride."The worldwide need for potash shows no sign of abating any time soon, and projected annual growth of 3 percent to 4 percent is predicted for the rest of this decade," said Stephen Dowdle, Senior Vice President, Fertilizer Sales."Projected growth of 4 percent translates to about 2.2 million tonnes of additional production needed every year. With almost a quarter of the world's potash capacity and plans for growth, PotashCorp is called upon to meet that demand."All of these expansion projects, combined, will raise PotashCorp's operating capacity to 18 million tonnes by the end of 2012, allowing the company to meet demand for fertilizer from the United States and the rapidly growing economies in Asia and Brazil.

PotashCorp officials and staff, political dignitaries, business representatives and members of the community gathered July 17 in Lanigan to help PotashCorp celebrate the completion of a Cdn $410 million project at its Lanigan operation.

Teams from PotashCorp’s Lanigan and Patience Lake facilities took top overall honors at the Saskatchewan Emergency Response Competitions held recently in Saskatoon.PotashCorp Lanigan was the overall underground winner, while PotashCorp Patience Lake took the top overall mark in the surface events.The contest, which occurred during Saskatchewan Mining Week, is a friendly but spirited competition among emergency response teams from mining operations across the province. PCS Potash President Garth Moore said PotashCorp’s results underscore the company’s goal of "no accidents" and "no injuries to people.""The skills and dedication displayed by our teams clearly reflect the importance PotashCorp places on safety," said Moore. "Thanks to all PotashCorp emergency responders for the time and effort you commit to this very important part of our business."The results of the competition are as follows:OVERALLUnderground Winner – PotashCorp LaniganSurface Winner – PotashCorp Patience LakeMINE PROBLEMUnderground Runner-up – PotashCorp RocanvilleFIELD PROBLEMSurface Winner – PotashCorp Patience LakeFIRST AIDUnderground Winner – PotashCorp LaniganFIRE FIGHTINGUnderground Winner – PotashCorp RocanvilleUnderground Runner-up – PotashCorp LaniganSurface Runner-up – PotashCorp Patience LakePROFICIENCYUnderground Runner-up – PotashCorp AllanSurface Runner-up – PotashCorp Patience LakePRACTICAL SKILLSUnderground Runner-up – PotashCorp Cory Division

PotashCorp has developed an innovative way to deal with one portion of its potash mine waste stream.All but two of the potash mines in Saskatchewan produce a waste stream of water-insoluble material and primarily water-soluble sodium chloride salts collectively known as "fine tailings." These tailings are discarded from the mill in the form of salt brine that is 70 percent solid and 30 percent liquid. It naturally flows and cannot be successfully stacked as is done with mines' coarse tailings.Fine tailings have been stored separately in shallow engineered ponds, or cells, that take up a great deal of land and remain soft indefinitely, providing little opportunity for capping with soil and then vegetation.In 1999, PotashCorp entered into an agreement with Saskatchewan's Ministry of the Environment that allowed it to build a new fine tailings cell at its Lanigan operation, provided it did extensive research to find a more environmentally acceptable solution to fine tailings disposal by 2010.In the eight years since, the company has invested millions of dollars in research, focusing first on two alternatives.The first method involved ''washing" the fine tailings to remove all water-soluble materials (salts), leaving relatively clean solids that could be de-watered and stacked, or possibly distributed on farmland. It required exceedingly large amounts of fresh water and was determined not to be environmentally sound."So much water would be needed to wash these fine tailings that you might even find yourself drawing down underground aquifers and affecting local wells," said PotashCorp Environmental Director Mark Getzlaf.The second method, pulling the liquid out of the fine tailings by centrifuge, was also seen as environmentally and economically unfeasible because, while conserving water and land, it was energy- and chemical-intensive.All was not lost, however. Through this exhaustive research on removing brine from fine tailings, it was discovered that the liquid brine could be removed in situ, after fine tailings were in modified engineered tailings ponds that would allow free brine to drain from the fine tailings into brine storage ponds – essentially leaving the tailings high and dry.The most promising approach to future fine tailings management appears to be a method in which the tailings are pumped to a containment cell and the brine is allowed to flow freely through a permeable barrier – a porous berm constructed at the downstream end of the cell. This brine is recovered and the remaining fine tailings consolidate into a solid form similar to what can be achieved by centrifuge."This approach still needs more testing and research, but the initial results are very positive," Getzlaf said. "Not only do we have a potential solution for new fine tailings facilities, but existing facilities can be retrofitted to this new technology."The fine tailings that are left over will be solid enough to stack vertically, which conserves land, and will be more easily capped and planted when the facility is ready to be decommissioned."The ultimate fate of the fine tailings cells would be capping and revegetation. Most of the exposed surface area would be earth, which could be seeded to grass.PotashCorp is working with another potash company in the province to test this method, which may one day be the standard way of dealing with fine tailings in Saskatchewan.

Events surrounding an August house fire in Lanigan underscore the fact that the annual PotashCorp Fire Fighters' Rodeo is more than just fun and friendly competition.The 2007 rodeo, held Sept. 15 in Lanigan and won by PotashCorp's Allan Division, occurred less than a month after volunteer firefighters from PCS Lanigan assisted their counterparts from the Town of Lanigan in extinguishing a house fire in town.Barry Hooper, chief of the town's volunteer fire department, says a shortage of personnel to fight the mid-afternoon fire resulted in a group of mine fire fighters coming out to help – the town and mine units share some members. Hooper said events like the rodeo help ensure smooth and effective co-operation at real fires."The rodeo is a competition," the chief said before the annual event. "But it's a lot of good training together, too. And it's been going on for years."The fire was extinguished without further incident.This year, the team from Allan placed first in the Search & Rescue event, second in the Fire Extinguishment and Challenge Relay events, and third in the Burst Hose and Water Soccer events. That was enough to claim the title of overall winner of the 2007 PotashCorp Fire Fighters' Rodeo.Cory Division's team won the overall runner-up position at the annual competition, which included teams from various PotashCorp mines as well as from volunteer fire departments in communities surrounding them.The individual events and the first-, second- and third-place winners are as follows:FIRST AID:     Lanigan Division, Lanigan Town, Cory DivisionSEARCH & RESCUE:     Allan Division, Lanigan Division, City of HumboldtBURST HOSE:     Cory Division, Lanigan Town, Allan DivisionFIRE EXTINGUISHMENT:     Rocanville Town, Allan Division, Cory DivisionCHALLENGE RELAY:     Cory Division, Allan Division, Lanigan TownWATER SOCCER:     Rocanville Town, City of Humboldt, Allan Division