Name and Location
Muskowekwan potash project, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Client
First Potash Ventures, a partnership between Encanto Potash and Muskowekwan Resources, which is owned by the Muskowekwan First Nation (MFN).

Project Description
A prefeasibility study completed on the Muskowekwan potash project has confirmed that it has significant positive economics and that the resource is sufficient in size and grade to support primary and secondary mining for more than 50 years, with a potassium chloride production rate of 2.8-million tonnes a year. The project has proven and probable reserves of 161.96-million tonnes of potassium chloride, grading 28%.

The potash project is expected to generate about 1 000 construction jobs and about 500 permanent jobs once it is fully operational. In addition, the mine is expected to generate “tens of millions” in revenue royalties a year for the First Nation.

Value
Capital expenditure, including contingency and escalation, is estimated at $2.86-billion and includes estimates for water supply, a gas pipeline and a cogeneration plant.

Duration
Construction is expected to start in the second quarter of 2014 and mine startup in the first quarter of 2017.

Latest Developments
The MFN has voted with a strong majority in favour of continuing to develop the first producing potash mine on First Nation land – the MFN’s reserve, located 100 km north-east of Regina, in Saskatchewan.

Six ballots for the MFN surface designation vote have passed, including those allowing Encanto to build and operate a potash solution mine on reserve land and prereserve land, and to lease certain areas in support of the mine.

Last year, the Canadian federal government and the MFN announced that the project had been accepted by the federal government under the First Nations Commercial and Industrial Development Act (FNCIDA), which enables the federal government to enact a provincial regulatory regime to govern commercial and industrial activities within a First Nation reserve.

While the project will become the first on-reserve potash mine in Canada, the proposed Muskowekwan project is the first in Saskatchewan to use the FNCIDA to regulate a project on reserve lands.

FNCIDA, which came into effect in 2006, aims to reproduce the provincial rules and regulations that apply to similar large-scale commercial or industrial off-reserve projects, and make them applicable to specific on-reserve projects.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Not stated.

On Budget and on Time?
To early to state.

Contact Details for Project Information
Encanto Potash, tel +1 604 683 2402.