PotashCorp curtails output as market slumps
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Canada’s largest producer of the crop nutrient, this week announced temporary production curtailments at its Allan and Lanigan operations, in an effort to match supply with market demand.
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based PotashCorp will curtail production at its Allan mine for four weeks, starting March 20. The mine, with a nameplate capacity of four-million tonnes of potassium chloride (KCl) a year, was forecast to produce 2.6-million tonnes in 2016.
From the same date, the Lanigan operation will also curtail production for four weeks. Lanigan has the capacity to produce 3.8-million tonnes of KCl a year, but was forecast to produce only 2-million tonnes this year.
PotashCorp said it expected the curtailments would reduce its full-year output by about 400 000 t.
The company advised that it was opting to achieve these curtailments through the use of maintenance shutdowns, which did not require temporary workforce layoffs.
PotashCorp in January closed its Picadilly, New Brunswick potash operations, citing a challenging macroeconomic backdrop. In response to weak demand, PotashCorp in October announced the permanent closure date of its Penobsquis, New Brunswick mine and inventory shutdowns in December at three of its Saskatchewan mines.
PotashCorp expected that its 2016 sales volumes would be between 8.3-million tonnes and 9.1-million tonnes. In January, the company also cut its quarterly dividend by 34%, owing to the challenging market conditions and emerging market currency weakness relative to the US dollar that continued to weigh on the fertiliser market.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation