In 2006, Cory produced approximately 800,000 mt of its 1.37-million-mt nameplate capacity, and currently makes only white potash products primarily for industrial customers. The project will involve debottlenecking of underground operations as well as a significant expansion into the production of red potash products. A new plant will be constructed for the crushing, flotation, centrifuging and drying of 2 million mt/y of red products, with up to 800,000 mt of this to be crystallized for white product production. Work is scheduled to begin immediately and will take 36 months to complete.

This will increase capacity at Cory to 2 million mt and, combined with other announced projects in Saskatchewan, should raise PotashCorp’s total production capability to 13.5 million mt by the second quarter of 2010. Beyond this, the company is considering additional projects at its facilities in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan that could raise its potential capacity to 15.7 million mt by 2015.

The company noted that, with a 12%–16% increase in potash consumption expected in 2007 and further 3%–4% annual increases anticipated through the end of the decade, global potash producers— with the exception of PotashCorp— are at or near their production limits. A new conventional greenfield mine requires a good deposit, five- to seven-years’ lead time to build and, according to recent external engineering estimates, an investment of $2 billion for 2 million mt/y of production. The Cory project, according to PotashCorp, will bring expanded production tonnage online more quickly and at a 40% discount to the estimated cost of a greenfield development.