3 Saskatchewan potash mines face short fall shutdown, workers laid off: Nutrien

 Up to 700 workers are to be temporarily laid off this fall at three Nutrien Ltd. potash mines in Saskatchewan.

Nutrien says it expects to proactively take up to eight-week inventory shutdowns at its Allan, Lanigan and Vanscoy potash mines starting in November.

It says the production downturn is due to what it calls a short-term slowdown in global potash markets.

Nutrien says the mine shutdowns would affect between 600 and 700 workers.

The Saskatoon-based fertilizer company says if all three facilities were to remain idle for the full eight weeks, potash production could be reduced by approximately 700,000 tonnes.

Nutrien, created by the merger of Potash Corp. and Agrium Inc., calls itself the world’s largest provider of crop inputs and services, producing 27 million tonnes of potash, nitrogen and phosphate products world-wide.

In July it lowered its estimate for 2019 adjusted earnings to reflect the impact of wet weather on U.S. planting and other factors that would reduce demand for potash in North America, China and India.