Today started with a continental breakfast at the Delta Bessborough followed by an informative presentation by Angus Errington from PotashCorp about potash. Potash is a salt that is made up of a potassium and chloride (KCl) that is used for fertilizer as well as many other applications. Potash is typically found about 1000m below surface in ore rich in iron oxide, clay and halite (NaCl). After determining the presence of a deposit using seismic studies, a shaft is sunk, lined with cast iron and sealed with lead to avoid water from entering the mine from overlaying waterbearing formations. The mining can now begin at depth. This can be done in a few ways depending on the stability of the ore; in a grid-like pattern or if the ore is unstable due to the presence of clay, in a series of chevrons. This was the plan of the Patience Lake operations until the mine became flooded and turned into a solution mine.
We checked out of the hotel and met Ken, our bus driver for the remainder of our trip. He immediately struck a chord with our group with his sense of humour, Irish accent and desire to make our trip as great as possible. He warned us about overusing the facilities on board and thankfully Keith stepped up to monitor (prevent) the usage of the washrooms. He collected a 2$ deposit on any beverage taken from the cooler which could be collected if you did not use the onboard washrooms.
Ken carefully maneuvered the bus through the streets of Saskatoon and out to PotashCorp's operations at Patience Lake where we were greeted by Trevor Berg (GM of Patience Lake), two process engineers (Brett and Rob) and Elaine from Human Resources. We enjoyed a short presentation and Q&A where most questions were focused on the KCl extraction process or the employment opportunities at Patience Lake. Brett then boarded our bus and we explored the surface operations starting with the storage facilities and where the finished product was loaded into railcars for shipment to market. We then started around the production ponds where the brine pumped out from underground is cooled to allow the KCl to precipitate out. We then saw the pumps and pipes that send the brine back underground and the two burners that heat the brine to allow it to dissolve more KCl. We continued around the ponds on a very narrow, precarious road to see the two dredges that remove the KCl slurry from the bottom of the production ponds. At times it seemed as though the road was too small for the large bus but Ken's careful driving kept us out of the ponds! The surface tour ended with a look at the tailings management area which consisted of a tailings pile (from prior underground mining operations), a small pond where any leachate from the tailings or surrounding area was collected and the pump that puts this salty water into deep injection wells over 2000m below surface.
We enjoyed a lunch of wraps and tasty desserts with several mine employees and we were given some teaching resources from Nutrients for Life, as well as golf balls, a silvinite (potash) sample, and some popcorn.
We boarded the bus to find out that we needed to go back to Saskatoon as the bus had a light that was not working and a couple people had forgotten things at the hotel. After a visit to Tim Horton's, we were on our way to Moose Jaw.
Just outside of Moose Jaw, off of Hwy 1 and 39 we stopped to explore the side of the road where many crystals of a mystery mineral can be easily found in the soil. We donned our safety vests and carefully crossed the road to begin collecting and making observations about the mineral's hardness, lustre, cleavage, and transparency. We determined that the mineral was gypsum (OK, we did read it in the itinerary too!).
Back on the bus and after another stop at Tim Horton's we were on our way to Swift Current for dinner and the evening. We checked in to the Holiday Inn Express and made our way to Boston Pizza for dinner. After learning that our reservation had been lost, we decided to head just up the highway to Wong's Kitchen for Chinese food. The food here was excellent and the service was top-notch! I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting Swift Current!
After dinner, we crossed back across the highway (relatively safely), walked back to the hotel and decided to check out the Living Sky Casino next door to the hotel with our free $10 vouchers courtesy of the hotel. We signed up for Player's Club cards, got our coupons and found Ingrid and the 2cent slot machines. Pam and Lorna were definitely out of their element but quickly caught on with Ingrid's help. Most of us left with more than we started, and Ingrid enjoyed an especially lucky evening.
What a great day!
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