AMC's future looking bright

Abstract

[...] AMC is currently working on a 'brownfield' expansion at PCS Rocanville, a $2.8-billion, 2.7-million tonne project announced by PCS in 2007.

A Regina-based mining services company is at the epicentre of the second potash boom in Saskatchewan, which could see $9 to $10 billion spent on potash expansion projects over the next 10 years.

"There are quite a few (mine) shafts planned to be executed in the near future," said Roy Durr, chief operating officer of Associated Mining Construction Inc. (AMC).

"We're going after every job that's coming out," added Durr, following a speech to a Saskatchewan Mining Week breakfast here Tuesday.

According to Saskatchewan Energy and Resources, three potash mining companies -- Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (PCS), Mosaic Co. and Agrium -- are planning expansion projects totaling $9.4 billion by the 2020.

In addition to these 'brownfield' expansions, several new companies are proposing 'greenfield' projects totalling several billions of dollars.

In fact, AMC is currently working on a 'brownfield' expansion at PCS Rocanville, a $2.8-billion, 2.7-million tonne project announced by PCS in 2007.

The project involves the sinking of a third shaft and associated mill expansion to accommodate the additional mine production, which is expected to be 5.7 million tonnes per year when the project is complete at the end of 2012.

The Rocanville expansion is divided into two areas: the mill expansion at PCS Rocanville and the shaft sinking about 15 km from the existing mine site.

"The shaft sinking project is around $200 million."

AMC currently has about 130 employees at Rocanville, Durr said.

AMC is a joint venture created in 2008 by Thyssen Mining of Regina, a subsidiary of the Thyssen Group that has been operating out of Germany since the late 1800s, and JS Redpath of North Bay, Ont., founded at Val d'Or, Que., by Jim Redpath in 1962.

While the company is less than two years old, it's really been 'reborn' from an earlier company AMC-Harrison, which was formed in the early 1960s for the purpose of sinking potash mine shafts in Saskatchewan. This earlier company sunk nine potash mine shafts in the province in 1960s and 1970s.

(The earlier version of AMC introduced to Saskatchewan the European technology of ground freezing, which enabled potash mine shafts to be sunk through the Blairmore formation, an 'underground lake' located 400 to 600 metres deep, containing water at pressure four time surface levels.)

Now AMC is gearing up for the second wave in potash expansion, which could rival the first big boom in terms of potash production capacity. And AMC plans to get a large chunk of those other expansion projects as well.

"Our intention is to stay in Saskatchewan," said Durr, who was named COO of AMC in 2009.

"It's not a company that's been formed just for two or three years. It's a long-term company ... We intend to be visible in the market and grab as much of it as we can."

Credit: Bruce Johnstone; The Leader-Post