A big shakeup at Encanto Potash Corp., which saw the CEO replaced and several directors resign from the company’s board of directors, could breathe new life into the company’s proposed $3-billion potash project at Muskowekwan First Nation, about 100 km northeast of Regina.
Norman Brewster, president and CEO of Cadillac Ventures Inc., was named CEO of Encanto earlier this month, replacing Jim Walchuk, who will stay on as an adviser. In addition to Brewster, six new directors were appointed to Encanto’s board of directors, including Muskowekwan First Nation Chief Reg Bellerose as First Nations special counsel. The company also moved its headquarters from Vancouver to Toronto.
Brewster said the financial markets haven’t been keen about financing new potash projects, especially since the price of potash plummeted from nearly US$900 a tonne in 2008 to less than US$200 per tonne in recent months.
“The price of potash has changed,” said Brewster in an interview from Toronto. “But there is a resource there and there is a intent within the company to pursue it and carry it to the next step, which would be to complete a feasibility study under the current regime of prices and supply.”
In 2013, a pre-feasibility study indicated proven and probable reserves of 162 million tonnes, sufficient to develop a potash mine producing 2.8-million tonnes per year for 50-plus years. The proposed project would create about 1,000 jobs during the construction phase and nearly 500 permanent jobs when complete.
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