A few contracts have been handed out from BHP as part of the Jansen potash mine project in Saskatchewan, with local First Nations organizations getting a piece of the pie.
The contract for camp services at the Jansen mine went to Wicehtowak Frontec Services, which is a partnership between ATCO Frontec Services and George Gordon Developments.
The contract will be for the BHP Jansen Discovery Lodge, and is a multi-year contract of roughly $86 million to provide camp services beginning in April.
Jansen Discovery Lodge is the camp for workers building Jansen Stage 1, which BHP says will be one of the world’s most sustainable potash mines.
This project is about 140 kilometres east of Saskatoon, and BHP is investing $7.5 billion.
Production is planned for 2026, with BHP adding it expects to produce 4.35 million tonnes of potash.
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“It provides cleaning, food preparation, catering and camp management services for our large two-and-a-half-thousand-person accommodation venue at Jansen Mine,” Simon Thomas, BHP’s president of the Jansen potash mining project, said of the contract.
Concrete work for four main non-process buildings on the BHP project and general site services contracts were awarded to 2Nations Bird.
2Nations Bird is a collaboration between Bird, Beardy’s and Okemasis Cree Nation’s Willow Cree Developments General Partner and Fishing Lake First Nation’s Development Corporation, FLFN Ventures.
The concrete contract is valued at $62 million, and the three-year site services agreement is valued at more than $110 million.
“Site services is a key contract on our site. It looks after electricity and utility services and the general operation of the site,” Thomas said.
“We wanted to ensure that we partner in the community and that we are part of the community at Jansen and around Jansen.”
These contracts mean more than 400 jobs, according to BHP, with more than 50 per cent of those being First Nations employees.
Thomas noted the overall project will run for many years and will offer a lot of opportunities for long-term employment.
“We want to have a very diverse, gender-balanced workforce in the long-term operation, and we’re seeking to have over 20 per cent of our workforce represented by Indigenous employees,” Thomas added.
He noted Stage 1, which was announced back in August 2021, is about 16 per cent complete.
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