Travel disrupted after natural gas leak near Saskatchewan potash mine

ESTERHAZY – The risk of an explosion has passed after emergency crews scrambled to stop a large overnight natural gas leak in eastern Saskatchewan.

RCMP warned drivers to avoid the area when the leak occurred at a SaskEnergy structure between Mosaic’s K2 and K3 potash mines near Esterhazy.

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Mounties say they were concerned about any open flame or a cigarette possibly igniting the gas.

Dave Burdeniuk, a SaskEnergy spokesman, says the leak occurred when some debris in a pipeline got into a regulator in the structure and blocked the gas flow.

Burdeniuk says a safety valve worked as it should to relieve the pressure buildup by releasing gas into the atmosphere.

There were no injuries and traffic on Highway 22 near the site of the leak was back to normal again around 7:30 a.m.