Uralkali sees high risk of complete mine loss OAO Uralkali sees a high risk that its Solikamsk-2 potash mine east of Moscow will be completely flooded, forcing the world’s biggest producer of the fertilizer to abandon a site that makes up almost a fifth of its capacity.
Russia’s largest potash miner is monitoring the site after halting operations as water began flowing into the mine on Nov. 18. A sinkhole that has widened to 50 meters (164 feet) by 80 meters opened near the mine, swallowing up local summer homes.
“The possibility of the negative scenario - complete mine flooding - remains high,” Uralkali said today in a statement, citing Alexander Baryakh, a director of the Russian Academy of Science’s local Mining Institute who’s working at the site.
Uralkali workers and mine-rescue specialists are pumping brine from the eastern part of the site to the west to try to prevent flooding adjacent to the mine shaft. The company is also digging a channel to divert flows and strengthening walls that divide Solikamsk-2 from the neighboring Solikamsk-1 mine.
A total shutdown of the site threatens to hand Uralkali’s crown as the biggest miner of the commodity to Canada’s Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., which has been expanding operations. Uralkali lost a site in Berezniki in the Perm region eight years ago after a more than 100-meter sinkhole opened above the mine. Water is deadly for potash as it dissolves the mineral deposit.
Ore from Solikamsk-2, about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) east of Moscow, produces about 2.3 million metric tons of potash a year, while Uralkali’s total capacity is 13 million tons.
Brine inflows into the mine have averaged more than 700 cubic meters an hour since Nov. 18, Uralkali said today.
Employees not involved in saving the mine are on leave to Jan. 15 on two-thirds of their average pay. Uralkali is seeking to employ them at other facilities, it said.
Uralkali rose 2.8 percent to 134.20 rubles by at 3:22 p.m. in Moscow, paring the loss for the year to 22 percent.