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Premier Scott Moe is calling the BHP mine announcement a “huge vote of confidence” in Saskatchewan and its people.
On Tuesday, the mining giant announced it would go ahead with the proposed potash mine near Lanigan. It’s expected to produce up to 4.35 million tonnes of potash annually for up to 100 years.
“As the largest investment in our province’s history, BHP’s decision highlights the strength of our potash resource in Saskatchewan,” said Moe.
Moe said potash has and will continue to play an outsized role in Saskatchewan’s growth – particularly as Saskatchewan and the world come out of the pandemic.
“We’re thrilled to see this landmark potash mine move ahead as it paves the way for thousands of good-paying jobs for the people of this province, and loads more economic activity across Saskatchewan,” said Moe.
The mine is expected to bring about 3,500 jobs to the area every year during construction and more than 600 jobs a year when it’s in operation. Moe said BHP has committed to those jobs being gender-balanced and for 20 per cent to be filled by Indigenous people.
Moe also pointed to the spin-off economic activity that he said the area is already seeing.
“Over the course of the operation of the mine, this investment literally will mean 10s of billions of dollars that will come to the people of Saskatchewan and to the Government of Saskatchewan, as it is the people that do own the resource,” said Moe.
This is just the latest in several investments and business announcements made in Saskatchewan in the last several months, including canola processing facilities in and helium projects.
Moe believes this is coming, in part, from relationships his government has created with companies and leaders during the pandemic.
“I asked our economic ministers to reach out to all of those that we have done business with in countries over the years gone by, but also where potential opportunities might lie for us to do additional export business, but also looking for additional investment opportunities that may come to Saskatchewan,” said Moe.
“We have been working very hard on ensuring that, as investment decisions are made around the world exiting the COVID-19 pandemic, that Saskatchewan is front and foremost with whoever is making those decisions.”
As for what attracted BHP to Saskatchewan, specifically, Minister of Trade and Export Development Jeremy Harrison believes it also has to do with the incentives and structures for business in the province.
“These companies could deploy their capital, literally, anywhere in the world and they’re choosing to deploy that capital here in Saskatchewan,” said Harrison. “And that doesn’t happen by accident, that is because of the fact that we have established very good relationships – I think that’s part of it. But also have in place a policy framework that makes it very, very attractive for these companies to deploy their capital into our province.”
According to the Energy and Natural Resources Minister Bronwyn Eyre, BHP was very positive about the research and development tax credits — one of the incentives they will be taking advantage of.
Harrison said Saskatchewan has seen nearly $10 billion in capital investments in the last few months.
Moe said the Jansen mine will go a long way to helping government achieve its targets for growth, to have the value of potash sales increase to $9 billion annually by 2030.
