VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Germany's K+S Potash Canada has opened its $4.6-billion new Legacy potash mine, in Saskatchewan, marking the handover of the mine to the operations team.

The company stated on Tuesday that the five-year construction phase was successfully completed and the first tonne of marketable potash was expected to be produced in June, as planned.

“We’re delighted to welcome a very good corporate citizen, K+S, back to Saskatchewan as it begins operations at a mine that will create more than 400 permanent jobs and generate taxes and royalties for years to come. The Legacy project strengthens Saskatchewan’s position as the world’s leading potash producer and is another indicator the province’s diversified and resilient economy is weathering economic uncertainty,” Premier Brad Wall said on Tuesday during a ceremony to mark the occasion.

The new potash mine, which ran under the project name Legacy, also on Tuesday received its new name ‘Bethune’, K+S said, continuing the Saskatchewan potash mining tradition of naming its facility after the closest neighbouring town. The project was the single largest project in the company’s history and will create about 400 permanent jobs.

"With our new location, we are making a huge step forward in the internationalisation of our potash business. Bethune enables us to participate in future market growth, reduce our average production costs and strengthen our international competitiveness, which will benefit the entire K+S Group,” K+S Aktiengesellschaft management board chairperson Norbert Steiner stated.

Following initial production, the first potash transport by freight train will take place from the site in southern Saskatchewan to the new K+S port facility in Vancouver, from where the potash will be shipped to customers mainly in South America and Asia. K+S also expects to achieve the desired production capacity of two-million tonnes by the end of 2017.

"Bethune is the most modern potash facility in the world and will sustainably strengthen the raw material and production base of the K+S Group, thereby opening up a long-term perspective over the time span of our German potash deposits," K+S Aktiengesellschaft supervisory board chairperson Dr Ralf Bethke added.

Fellow Saskatchewan-focused potash majors and merger partners Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan and Agrium have recently reported cautious optimism that demand for the crop nutrient will continue to recover, following multi-year low prices last year. Agrium commented Monday that global potash shipments finished strongly in 2016 and the momentum has carried forward into 2017, which has maintained relatively low supply availability. However, global potash production rates have increased and further capacity additions, such as Bethune, are expected in 2017, which could lead buyers to be cautious following the spring application season.