Close to 200 people representing businesses from all over the Humboldt region packed Jubilee Hall at the Humboldt Uniplex on July 19 to hear about possible opportunities associated with BHP Billiton's proposed potash mine at Jansen.
Chris Ryder, vice president of external affairs for BHP Billiton Canada, stated he was pleased with the turnout to the event, which was specifically directed at local businesses. The session was meant to inform them about how they can involve their company in the mine project.
The proposed mine at Jansen is still in its feasibility stage, Ryder explained. They don't expect board approval on the project until 2012. The point of their session last week was to start the process of building relationships with local suppliers, with the assumption that the mine project will be going ahead.
But first, they provided the business owners with an update on the Jansen mine project.
BHP Billiton has approved $488 million US in pre-commitment funds for Jansen, in addition to $240 million approved in 2010. The Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment has approved the mine's environmental impact study, and a total of $2 billion US has been spent by BHP in Saskatchewan in the past four years, on exploration, drilling and land acquisition.
The Jansen project specifically will be Saskatchewan's first new Greenfield conventional potash mining operation since the late 1960s, Ryder noted. The recent $488 million commitment is for site preparation and the procurement of long lead time items.
Also to do with this project, BHP has retained SNC Lavalin as the EPCM or Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management contractor for the surface portion of the mine. BHP will retain control of the subsurface construction and activities.
Right now, the project, according to a map of key milestones, is in the middle of five stages - the definition or feasibility stage. Next is execution, and after that, operation, which they hope to hit in 2015.
The project has to pass through some strict internal processes in addition to government processes, Ryder explained, and though they cannot guarantee building a mine at this point, "we have spent $2 billion in Saskatchewan," he said. "It's very rare for a project to go through to the feasibility stage without being approved for production. I think we're going to build this mine."
The freeze plant, used to freeze the ground, which is necessary to sink production and service shafts, is set to be turned on in August, he added - a total of 89 holes will be dug during the freezing process.
Right now, there are about 115 people working at the mine site, completing the freeze plant and drilling holes.
BHP expects to begin surface construc-tion at the site in 2012.
Phase one of the mine will include two 6.5m shafts of a 1,040 m depth, a fully equipped service shaft with headframe and hoist, six underground borers with conveyors and mobile support equipment, 10,000 tonnes of raw ore storage, a processing plant, a tailings management system, a partial administration/mine dry/maintenance facilities.
This means that infrastructure at the site will include two brine injection wells, product storage buildings and load outs, construc-tion accommodations and onsite roads.
The construction camp will house up to 2,000 workers.
When the entire mine is built - the fin-ishing stage is expected in 2015 - within eight years of the initial production, they hope to reach their capacity of 8 million tonnes of potash per year. Initially, their capacity will be 2 million tonnes of potash per year.
At full operating capacity, the mine will employ about 1,000 people.
One of BHP's concerns at this point, Ryder noted, is where they are going to find all of these employees, and where the construction workers are going to live during the construction phase.
"Those are some of the things that keep me up at night," Ryder said.
Dale Clarke then spoke on behalf of SNC Lavalin (SNCL), explaining their partnership with BHP Billiton, and their company's history. It's their local Saskatoon team that will be working on the BHP Billiton Potash Projects, including Jansen. The century-old company, which employs 24,000 globally, has about 160 direct employees in Saskatchewan, he explained.
They are still in the early stages of development in regards to their portion of the Jansen project, he explained, but they are developing systems they will use in the execution of the project, and are "looking... to engage as many local people as possible."
Stephen Comley of SNCL and Siri Genick of BHP Billiton were then called up to explain how businesses can register with the SNCL Global Procurement System (GPS).
This system will allow them to know what companies in this area can do for the project.
"We really want to know who you are, where you are and what you do," Comley noted. Then they will try and match what local businesses do with what is available on the project.
"We tried to cover every eventuality," Genik said. "We want to engage as many of you as we possibly can."
Serge Pelletier, another BHP Billion representative who is now a familiar face in the area, went on to explain that the Prairie Innovation Enterprise Region (PIER) is also working with BHP Billiton on building a list of the business capacity of the region. They are finding out what businesses are in this region, what they are doing, and how many they employ, so if SNC Lavalin or BHP Billiton need something for a part of the project, they don't have to flip through the yellow pages.
"We're trying to find out the business community -who is out there - as much as we can," Pelletier said.
He urged business to think along the lines of strategic partnerships with other companies which would allow them a larger capacity and a chance to be more involved in this mine project.
Through the list generated by PIER and the SNCL GPC, a business could be listed twice, Pelletier agreed, which they feel would be better than missing someone.
The PIER list, he explained, reaches out to the business community, while through the SNCL GPS, the businesses are reaching out to the project.
Those interested in registering their business with SNCL can contact their office in Saskatoon for more information.
