Mosaic immediately closing Esterhazy K1, K2 potash mine shafts

The Mosaic Company announced on Friday it was immediately closing the K1 and K2 potash mine shafts at Esterhazy.

“Closing K1 and K2 are key pieces of the transition to K3 but the timeline for the closure has been accelerated by nine months due to a recent acceleration of brine inflows,” a press release read.

Mosaic is planning to resume production at the Colonsay potash mine and will be calling back workers “as soon as practical.”

In the press release, Mosaic said restarting production at Colonsay will offset a part of the production lost by closing K1 and K2 shafts at Esterhazy early.

Mosaic added this will “position the company to take advantage of the expected strong potash markets in 2022 and beyond.”

By March 2022, Mosaic’s annualized potash production could increase by 2 million tonnes from 2020 levels, as Esterhazy K3 gets up to full capacity and Colonsay.

“As a result of these operational changes, the company expects to eliminate brine management expenses after July 2021 and materially increase 2022 available potash capacity to take advantage of the expected potash market strength.”

During the transition period, expected to be between July 2021 and March 2022, Mosaic anticipates potash production to be reduced by about one million tonnes.

“Mosaic has been managing inflows at Esterhazy since 1985, and has accelerated the development of the K3 shafts to allow for the ultimate closure of the K1 and K2 shafts,” said Joc O’Rourke, president and chief executive officer.

“For the last decade, we’ve run scenarios that relate to the early closure of these shafts. As a result of that planning, we expect to end up in a stronger position than ever in 2022.”