TSXV:EPO.H - Post by User
Post by
Bob_Tenon Jul 07, 2011 6:23am
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Post# 18804757
Here's why there hasn't been a new
Here's why there hasn't been a newpotash mine in Sask in 40 years.
Saskatchewan's potash is a potassium salt that, when refined, looks andtastes much like table salt. The ore lies about a kilometre underground,the remains of a 400 million-year-old inland sea that left vastdeposits of salts when it evaporated.
Getting to the deposits istricky: Miners must dig through a treacherous, watery band around aquarter mile down that flows like quicksand and can seep into mineshafts and flood the mine. The potash miners of the 1950s and '60ssolved that problem by temporarily freezing the band, then lowering inhundreds of cast-iron rings to protect the mine shaft. The operation isso expensive that no new mines have been started for about 40 years.