Potash

All dollar values are CDN.

New Brunswick

Operations

Annual operational capability — 0.8 million tonnes KCl, 0.7 million tonnes salt
Mining depth — 400–700 meters
Products — granular, standard and suspension-grade potash

Performance

Significant Events

• Sadly, suffered a fatality when an underground construction worker was struck by a pipe during installation; responded by rigorously re-evaluating mine construction procedures and pre-job hazard assessments focusing on awareness and training
• Achieved 11 years without a lost-time injury at Cassidy Lake and one year at Sussex
• Able to keep hourly employees working an average of 96 percent of the year despite 28 weeks of shutdowns by redeploying them to capital and maintenance projects
• Continued construction of new Picadilly mine, including two 306-foot concrete head frames
• Constructed a new 30-km brine pipeline from the Penobsquis mine site to the brine pond at Cassidy Lake division; the pipeline not only provides additional brine disposal capacity, but has reduced the daily volume of brine hauled by trucks to less than half the 2008 volume

Community Relations

• Held meetings with provincial legislators and officials to discuss permitting of the Picadilly project, constructing the brine pipeline and other regulatory issues
• Responded to concerns about the possible effects of mining operations on subsidence by meeting with representatives of the “Concerned Citizens of Penobsquis” on three occasions
• Responded to concerns from employees and nearby residents over the increased traffic as a result of the expansion activities; a plan to re-route traffic flow in and out of the construction sites was completed in March 2010
• Published a weekly newsletter for community leaders that contained updates of current construction activities, progress, traffic reports and other news during construction of the brine pipeline
• Contributed towards our commitment of $1.2 million for construction of a city water pipeline to Penobsquis residents, most of whom have been connected to the system
• Held meetings with representatives of First Nations communities and organizations
• Co-hosted a booth at the Atlantic Balloon Fiesta with the Department of Natural Resources
• Sponsored a fossil find which provided area residents with an opportunity to search for fossils in sandy soil from our Aurora NC phosphate operations

Community Donations

• Donated $250,000 to the Fundy Civic Centre, which will be renamed the PotashCorp Wellness Centre, as part of a multi-year $1 million donation
• Donated more than $42,000 to community organizations, including the University of New Brunswick, Hammond River Angling Association, Exploration and Mining New Brunswick, School District No. 6, Sussex Middle School
• Contributed more than $67,400 of in-kind goods and services to local community organizations, including the Sussex Golf Course, the Atlantic Balloon Fiesta, City of Penobsquis, New Brunswick Community College, Transition House and the Sussex Library

Educational Initiatives

• Continued to support the coop program at the local community college by hiring one Chemical Technology coop student, one Process Control Technician Program student and three Instrumentation coop students for four-month work terms
• Hired a Mining Engineering coop student from Dalhousie University
• Maintained a partnership with the University of New Brunswick’s Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, including providing Grant in Aid support for a project on “Monitoring and Modeling of Ground Subsidence”

Awards

• Received the National John T. Ryan Award for Select Mines in Canada 2008 for having the lowest injury frequency rates
• Received a Certificate of Appreciation from the New Brunswick Salmon Federation in recognition of our contribution to the 2009 Autumn Run Dinner

Energy and Environment

• Constructed a new site runoff collection pond to reduce solids discharged off site
• Started a stream restoration project for the Kennebecasis River in partnership with the Kennebecasis Watershed Restoration Committee

Local Procurement

• Made local purchases in 2009 of $27.8 million, or 38 percent of total expenditures (excluding major expansions, raw materials, energy and transportation)