Industrial minerals have been a staple in
Saskatchewan’s mining industry for over 100 years
and the state is regarded as one of the most mining-friendly
places in the world. The Fraser Institute’s 2014
Survey of Mining Companies ranked Saskatchewan first in Canada
and second overall, behind Finland, out of 122 jurisdictions in
overall investment attractiveness in mining.
Potash is Saskatchewan’s provincial mineral for
a good reason, as it contributes more to the
province’s economy each year than all other
minerals combined. In 2015, the value of potash sales was
approximately Canadian dollar (C$) 6.1bn ($4.4bn*), and the
province set a new record in 2015 by producing over 18.2m
tonnes potassium chloride (KCl).
Over the past decade, Saskatchewan’s potash
industry has been in a phase of substantial growth. During this
period, expenditures for new potash projects have, on average,
accounted for more than 35% of the total spent on mineral
exploration and development projects in the province. A number
of companies are advancing potash projects that range from
early-stage exploration to pre-construction
development.
In 2012, Germany’s K+S Group started
constructing the 2.8m tpa Legacy potash solution mine, the
province’s first new potash mine in over 40 years,
with investment of over C$4bn and initial production slated for
this year. Elsewhere, BHP Billiton has invested over $3bn so
far on its Jansen potash project, which has the potential to be
the world’s largest underground potash mine, with
a projected capacity of up to 12m tpa KCl. Other global mining
companies, such as Vale, Rio Tinto, JSC Acron and Yancoal
Canada, are all active in potash projects in the province. In
addition to working on new projects,
Saskatchewan’s three current potash producers
– Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (PotashCorp), The
Mosaic Co., and Agrium Inc.– have committed over $14bn
to roughly doubling production capacity at their 10 existing
mines.
Salt
The Prairie Evaporite Formation, which hosts the
province’s potash deposits, is also a massive salt
resource, averaging 120 metres in thickness across much of
southern Saskatchewan. Salt is currently produced as a
by-product at five of the province’s potash mines
and as a primary product from one independent solution mine,
near Unity.
More than 20 companies have been involved in sodium sulphate
development work in Saskatchewan over the past 90 years. Sodium
sulphate is extracted from evaporite deposits that develop in
groundwater-fed, postglacial, hypersaline lakes that occupy
internally drained basins. Mirabilite, thenardite, bloedite,
epsomite and other salts become concentrated in thicknesses of
several metres in ephemeral and perennial saline lakes. The
southwest of the province hosts hundreds of these alkaline
lakes and the 20 largest sodium sulphate deposits have a
combined historic resource estimate in excess of 50m tonnes.
The province currently produces high-purity anhydrous sodium
sulphate products at Chaplin Lake and specialty potassium
sulphate products at Big Quill Lake.
Clays
Saskatchewan also has a wide variety of potentially economic
clays hosted in Cretaceous, Tertiary and Quaternary strata
across the south of the province. The province has been
producing clay products since the early 1900s, starting with
fabrication of clay-fired brick. The discovery of large oil and
gas reserves in western Canada drove production of swelling
clays, such as bentonite, through the 1940s and 1950s. Ceramic
clays have been used to create a host of products, including
refractory brick, pottery, flue tiles, structural tile,
earthenware and stoneware. Bloating clays were used in the
production of lightweight aggregate for concrete; kaolin clays
have been used as a paper whitener and, more recently, as a
meta-kaolin cement substitute.
Silica sands
High-purity silica sands are widespread and relatively near
the surface, over large regions of the province. Cretaceous
(Mannville Group), Ordovician (Winnipeg Formation) and
glaciofluvial sands have been exploited in Saskatchewan since
the 1930s, when Hud Bay Mining and Smelting Co. Ltd. began
quarrying sand for use as flux in its Flin Flon zinc smelter.
However, commercial production of Saskatchewan’s
silica sands only began in the mid-1980s. Since then, extensive
research has been carried out on these deposits, including
x-ray diffraction, brightness and reflectance tests, as well as
compressive strength tests and fracture analysis. Initially
investigated as a source of industrial silica and as foundry
material in glass production, Saskatchewan silica sands
eventually found a niche market in golf course bunkers. Now,
these deposits are primarily targeted as proppants for
hydraulic fracturing, with recent production from the Winnipeg
Formation.
Deep formation brines, which are co-produced from petroleum
wells across southern Saskatchewan, have shown elevated
concentrations of elements such as bromine, iodine, lithium,
magnesium, boron and potassium.
The province has also had sporadic production of a few other
industrial minerals, including building stone, naturally fired
clay (ornamental clinker), leonardite (a humic acid source) and
pumicite (volcanic ash).
*Conversion made February 2016