Despite a downturn in potash prices, BHP Billiton said nothing has changed to the Jansen project.
On Tuesday, Russian potash company Uralkali announced it’s leaving a trading consortium and will sell potash on its own. The move left uncertainty in the industry.
Stocks prices for PotashCorp, Mosaic, and Agrium all dropped.
BHP Biliton’s Jansen project, if completed, would be the world’s largest potash mine. Final approval for the project has been delayed.
CTV News contacted BHP last week to discuss the Jansen project, and in an email received on July 28, a representative from BHP Biliton said, “Work continues at the Jansen Project. The shaft excavation process is well underway and we continue to work to finalize the engineering design studies necessary to present the project’s feasibility study to the BHP Billiton Board for approval. We have not given a timeline for when we will be ready to take the project to the Board for approval, however the Feasibility Study is a substantial body of work.”
The email also explained that a Herrenknecht shaft boring machine is currently excavating the further mine shaft. In total, BHP has 380 people working at the site.
When asked if the shift in the market affected the project, the same representative said in an email nothing had changed since the explanation provided on July 28. “Both Herenknecht machines are excavating the two shafts,” the email said.
BHP Biliton declined to comment further on the industry marketing issue.
Potash makes up 4.5 per cent of the province’s provincial revenues.
