Canada Golden Fortune Potash Corp: Bonk enthusiastic about proposed mine
February 6, 2018, 1:54 am
Kevin Weedmark
Moosomin MLA Steven Bonk says he is enthusiastic about a proposed solution potash mine in southeast Saskatchewan. “I’m reasonably familiar with the proposal. It falls under the energy and resources portion of the economy ministry portfolio,” said Bonk.
“The government of Saskatchewan is encouraged by the progress that’s been made so far, and we definitely offer our assistance in helping them in the future.”
How can the government help with a project like this?
“We can answer any questions they have on the permitting process and the environmental study—any process-related questions.”
Bonk said he is encouraged by the work the company has put into the project so far.
The Golden Fortune Potash Corporation’s Broadview Project would cover an area south of Broadview and north of Kipling.
“We’re very encouraged by the progress they’ve made to date,” said Bonk. “This project is very important for our constituency in particular but also in promoting Saskatchewan as one of the best mining jurisdictions in the world.”
Saskatchewan has come at or close to the top in recent surveys of mining jurisdictions around the world, in terms of attractiveness for investment.
“That’s largely because of the ease of doing business here,” says Bonk. “We have necessary but limited regulation, and then we get out of the way. We let private companies do what they do best, without government interference.
“We’re also proactive in managing expectations of these companies as well as helping them prepare for their environmental impact statements, feasibility studies, detailed engineering, infrastructure and water—those kinds of things. We’re very proactive in helping businesses.”
Bonk has met with the Canada Golden Fortune Potash Corporation officials, and is encouraged by what he has heard.
“They’re very gung-ho and we’re looking forward to working with them. As I say, though, we want to manage expectations, and it’s a challenging market right now in the potash field. But we’re definitely encouraged by the progress made so far.
“It’s in the study and evaluation phase, so it’s one of the early phases of project approval. They’ll need to make an environmental impact statement, as well as secure financing, and have their engineering approved, and SaskWater will have to approve their water usage. But everything seems to be progressing at the moment.
“I would absolutely be happy to see this project go ahead. I think it would be great for our constituency, and the province as a whole. There are so many interesting projects coming forward now, I think 2018 is going to be a very good year for Saskatchewan. We have a lot of value-added projects in the ag sector coming on, in processing fractionation, fibre—there is a lot of interest in the ag sector, as well as in the mining sector.”
Canada Golden Fortune Potash Corporation is a subsidiary of Shanghai Jingdi Investment Ltd., based in Shanghai. The company’s Broadview Project is a proposed greenfield solution potash mine development that would produce about a million tonnes of potash per year.
Solution mining differs from underground mining in that it involves injecting water underground to dissolve potash and other minerals, pumping the water with the dissolved minerals to the surface, and separating the minerals from the water at the surface.
The area of the Broadview project is more suited for solution mining than underground mining because it’s far deeper than underground mines in the area, and the added heat and pressure at the depth of the ore body would make conventional mining difficult.
The ore body in this case is at a depth of 1,500 to 1,600 metres.
If the project, located south of Broadview and north of Kipling, goes ahead, it would create up to 2,500 jobs during peak construction, and up to 180 permanent jobs once in operation.
Golden Fortune started environmental baseline studies in 2015, and completed a scoping study and environmental impact assessment.
The mineral rights for the project covers Township 15 and Range 06, 07 and 08.
Canada Golden Fortune has completed 2D and 3D seismic exploration, and eight exploration wells in the project area and finished the resource estimation.
Golden Fortune is currently working on the detailed engineering design of the cavern development and plant processing.
