Mining: Rock Solid Foundation for Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan Mining Association's 2009 Annual Mining Week will be held May 24th - 30th, with the Official Launch taking place in Regina on Monday, May 25th.
Saskatchewan has been named the top mineral producer in Canada by Resources Canada. Hence the theme for this year's annual mining week, "Mining: Rock Solid Foundation for Saskatchewan".
Bruce Lambert, Manager of the Sherritt Coal's Poplar River Mine near Coronach and Past President of the Saskatchewan Mining Association said, "We picked that theme this year because we have had an excellent year as an industry. For the first time, Saskatchewan became the top mineral producer in Canada as was announced by Resources Canada. Saskatchewan had 21.55 of Canada's mineral output with a value of $ 9.7 Billion compared to $5.8 billion in 2007."
Lambert attributed the increase to the rise in potash prices in 2008. "Saskatchewan, of course, is number one in potash (production), Canada wide, there is a little bit in New Brunswick, but other than that it is primarily Saskatchewan. So we have been the leading producer of potash and uranium for a number of years, worldwide.
this year, with the significant increase in the price of potash, it propelled Saskatchewan to its current number one position in terms of value of mineral output."
Lambert talked about the success of Saskatchewan mining companies. "Saskatchewan companies have announced $10 Billion worth of investments to add capacity to existing operations over the next few years, and that's primarily in potash. They are reinvesting in their success in the province. We believe that that is very good news. It will provide significant benefit to the Province of Saskatchewan, in taxes and royalties, paid to the provincial treasury for the benefit of all of the residents of Saskatchewan."
Lambert explained that an additional potash mine will be built at Rocanville, where PCS currently has a mine. The output will be doubled from that location.
Several of the other, both PCS and Mosiac, have announced expansions at existing operations." said Lambert.
On the local front, Lambert said, "Sherritt Coal continues to provide fuel to Poplar River, Boundary Dam and Shand (power stations) and everything is pretty stable. We don't see any significant changes in anticipated volumes over the coming years. We don't see much difference as far as staffing levels, I believe they will maintain their present levels."
Lambert talked about the future of the coal mining industry in the province, in relation to the environment and the push towards reduction of carbon emissions.
"Longer term it provides more of a challenge to continue to be the economic preference. It will add cost to our cost structure, which then will add cost to the consumer who buys the power. Given our restrictions in Saskatchewan where we have limited hydro capacity, really your options are natural gas, coal and a little bit of wind.
Lambert explained that wind is not a reliable source of base load power, but it is good "swing fuel" that can be used when the wind blows.
Lambert continued, "That leaves us with uranium which is a very long term project. . . by the time you get something actually running on the uranium side, it is likely to be in the range of 15 years. We are going to need other answers in the interim to keep everything in a healthy state on the power side."
Lambert doesn't see the end of the use of coal to produce power in our province. "If you've got resources in the province, it makes sense to use all of them so that you have a balanced structure and no one thing is going to get you into a problem." "Natural gas prices will go up and down depending on the market situation and (coal mines) will always be there with a long term fuel supply with a pretty stable pricing regime." said Lambert.
Over the past several years, there has been a reported lack of skilled employees to fill jobs in our province. Lambert said, "We've been very fortunate. We did go through a spell there in 2007-08, when things were very busy with our neighbour to the West (Alberta) and we did lose some very valued employees to the Alberta side but it seems to have balanced itself out again now. . . we are fully staffed now and fairly comfortable going forward."
Lambert talked about the future, "We do believe there is going to be some challenges in the industry with the amount of retirements we see coming up. Also the continued growth in the business. If the potash companies all expand the way they are expecting to, definately there is going to be some challenges bringing enough new people into the system to continue to backfill the people we lose to retirement or just moving on to other things.
Lambert encourages young people to look at mining as a career choice. "I would say mining would be a very good opportunity, it provides a good quality of life, if you like the rural setting rather than living in the city. It is good wages and frankly if they wanted to go take a trade, they would do very well, in any of the key trades like heavy duty mechanics, electrical, millright or welder. In addition to that, if they feel they want to go more into the academic side, there is always a requirement for engineers, of various types, whether it is mechanical, mining, or chemical you name it there is going to be lots of work out there.'
Lambert also talked about some new technology that Sherritt Coal is investing in in the province. "Sherritt Coal and Norit Americas are building an activated carbon plant at the Beinfait location that will utilize the coal from the Beinfait operation to provide activated carbon for the capture of the mercury from the flue gas which is the exhaust gases from the power plant We are going to provide this into the North American market. The testing for the capture of mercury was done at the Poplar River Power Station over a number of years and it was found to be very effective so we've chosen to make an investment in that science." said Lambert.
In order to stop the mercury from being released into the atmosphere, the activated carbon bonds to the mercury and it is then able to be landfilled.
This project is different from the one announced earlier this month by the Saskatchewan Government that proposes a partnership with Montana in a CO2 capture project, if it comes to pass, will probably effect the Poplar River Power Station.
The week will culminate with the 41st Annual Emergency Response/Mine Rescue Skills Competition on Saturday, May 30th, 2009 in Regina at EVRAZ Place
As part of mining week, The emergency response competition will be held at Evraz Place (in Regina on Saturday, May 30). It is open to the public, we welcome spectators. It starts first thing in the morning and continues through until mid afternoon and I think it is a good opportunity to come and see some very competent people utilize their training. "I believe these people are a priceless resource to the communities where they live. They can provide a very necessary response to unanticipated events and well as providing coverage for the operation where they work. We have had quite a few examples of that in our local area, either through assisting the ambulance or fighting fires and a variety of things our emergency response team has been asked to assist with.
'(The competition) is a good opportunity to get a sense of how many people there are in the province that help out when required." concluded Lambert.
The Emergency Res