Patience Lake
Box 509, Saskatoon, SK S7K 3L6 | (306) 667-4300
James Couch, General Manager | E-mail James
Operations
Originally a conventional underground operation, Patience Lake was converted to a solution mining operation in 1988 after two periods of closure due to flooding. Solution mining dissolves the potash from the ore by circulating brine through the flooded conventional mine workings 1,000 meters below the surface. Patience Lake produces white standard, lawn and garden, and granular-grade potash for agriculture. Its annual capacity is 1.0 million tonnes KCl.
Significant Events
In 2007, a $110.0 million expansion was announced. Patience Lake will add 360,000 tonnes of capacity via 20 new injection wells and the pumping and piping systems required to serve them.
The brine in neighboring Patience Lake rose to an all-time high in 2007 because of two back-to-back years of high precipitation and high runoff. Considerable time and effort were put into preventing the lake from overfilling and flooding onto adjacent property. This included raising the berm and roadway on the east side of the lake, diverting water away from the lake in the spring and reactivating the brine disposal well to pump excess brine out and into the deadwood formation via a disposal well. A second disposal well will be installed next year.
The site reached three years with no lost-time injuries in December 2007.
Community Donations
The value of cash donations to local community organizations in 2007 totaled $10,659. The top recipients were the United Way, Ducks Unlimited, Diabetes Association, Canadian Cancer Society and the Saskatchewan Parkinson Disease Foundation.
The main recipient organizations of the site's in-kind contributions were Clavet High School, Village of Bradwell, Clavet Community, Regional Municipality of Aberdeen and Ducks Unlimited.
Awards
For the second year in a row, Patience Lake along with Cory, Allan and the Saskatoon office received the Campaign Chair's Choice Award for the best overall performance by a workplace campaign for the 2007 United Way of Saskatoon and Area campaign.
The site received the Saskatchewan Mining Association Safety Award for achieving a zero-injury rating.
Local Procurement
The value of goods, materials and services purchased locally in 2007 (excluding raw materials, transportation and energy) was $5.9 million, which represents 58 percent of total procurement.
Performance Trends |
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| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
Annual Production (tonnes KCl) |
250,683 | 239,061 | 251,033 | 190,156 | 257,000 |
Employment |
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| # of employees | 67 | 67 | 68 | 67 | 70 |
| # of female employees | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Gender ratio (% female/total employees) | 5.9 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 7.5 | 8.6 |
| Average tenure (years) | 19.3 | 20.3 | 21.3 | 20.1 | 17.9 |
| Absenteeism rate (% hours absent) | 4.7 | 4.1 | 5.2 | 3.0 | 3.9 |
| Employee training provided (hrs per employee) | 26 | 30 | 40 | 53 | 112 |
Safety Performance |
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| Lost-time frequency (per 200,000 hrs) | 0 | 1.76 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Recordable frequency (per 200,000 hrs) | 5.4 | 8.8 | 5.0 | 3.7 | 3.2 |
Greenhouse Gas Emissions |
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| GHG emissions (000 tonnes) | 38.4 | 35.9 | 38.1 | 34.1 | 36.7 |
| Normalized GHGs (GHGs/tonne production) | 0.15 | 0.15 | 0.15 | 0.18 | 0.14 |
NPRI Air Pollutants (tonnes) |
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| Nitrogen oxides | 36.7 | 36.2 | 36.4 | 35.1 | 38.4 |
| Carbon monoxide | 28.0 | 26.3 | 26.0 | 25.0 | 26.9 |
| Particulates (dust) | 335.1 | 306.0 | 214.1 | 181.3 | 202.6 |
| Volatile organic compounds | 1.9 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
Waste to Land (000 tonnes) |
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| Waste salt to storage | 37.0 | 39.7 | 69.9 | 18.1 | 36.7 |
| Waste salt and clay to mine | 141.6 | 127.9 | 124.7 | 159.8 | 262 |
Water Use (000 m3) |
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| Water withdrawn | 868 | 1,082 | 761 | 309 | 457 |
Environmental Expenditures ($ 000) |
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| Operating expenditures | 201 | 1,207 | 535 | 290 | 542 |
| Capital expenditures | 397 | 451 | 1,503 | 817 | 3,476 |
Energy |
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| Energy costs ($ million) | 7.0 | 7.2 | 8.4 | 7.6 | 7.6 |
| Energy use (TJ) | 908 | 868 | 852 | 869 | 875 |
| Energy efficiency (GJ/tonne production) | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.4 | 4.2 | 3.4 |
Procurement |
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| Local purchasing ($ million) | 1.9 | 2.5 | 3.1 | 3.7 | 5.9 |
| Source: PotashCorp | |||||