“It will result in more jobs and more jobs means more business for Yorkton; you get more people shopping here, more people building homes …”
— Yorkton Mayor Bob Maloney
A recent $1.7 billion expansion of Mosaic’s K3 potash mine project at Esterhazy will positively affect Yorkton according to Mayor Bob Maloney.
“Any development in potash is good news for the city of Yorkton,” Maloney said.
“It will result in more jobs and more jobs means more business for Yorkton; you get more people shopping here, more people building homes. We build subdivisions when Mosaic announces something. Miners make good money and they live in houses; they don’t live in apartments for the most part.”
In fact, 133 of the operation’s permanent employees and their families already live in the city.
Mosaic has not yet released how many permanent jobs the expansion might create because that is approximately eight years in the future. However, in the interim, Sarah Fedorchuk, senior director of public affairs, said at least 300 skilled trades people and up to 600 will be employed in the construction.
“We anticipate it will be really, really great for the local economy,” she said.
Maloney sees a lot of spin-off benefits for Yorkton.
“When you look at those kinds of dollars, some of it will be spent in the local region,” he said. “Mosaic always does a good job of trying to make sure that they support local suppliers because then they’ve got ongoing assistance as they develop.”
The premier sees those benefits extending to the whole province.
“This is a great announcement and further evidence that Saskatchewan’s diversified economy remains strong,” said Brad Wall. “Despite the downturn in oil prices, other sectors continue to show strong growth.
This is a strong demonstration of their confidence in Saskatchewan’s future.”
Weak oil prices may even be helping Mosaic with reduced transportation costs. Fedorchuk also hopes it will make it easier for them to get the labour they need than the last time they expanded, which helps the bottom line.
Maloney is also hoping the project is another step toward building a transportation hub similar to the Global Transportation Hub recently opened in Regina.
“When you look at the number of trucks and the traffic moving through the city, we’re finding our road connections in Yorkton, that’s the real reason we’re here, that’s why we’ve grown,” the mayor said.
The City is working with a consulting firm to determine just how the hub might be accomplished. Mosaic could be an integral part of it.
“I think as we move forward, we’re going to see some things come out of this study, whether it’s truck stops or container parts or even value-added ag[riculture],” Maloney suggested.
Fedorchuk also responded to rumours that there is a K4 mine in the works saying while there are no specific plans at this time, in order to get to the 100 years worth of reserves at Esterhazy, there will undoubtedly have to be future expansions.
