JANSEN — For a project of its size to be ahead of schedule is cause for celebration. Karina Gistelinck, president of BHP Potash, was happy to relay those sentiments to an audience at Canadian Western Agribition in Regina recently.
“Things are going really, really well at Jansen,” she said. “We are now over 60 per cent complete on the first part of the investment Jansen 1, which will create a line that can produce 4.2 million tons of product. We’re ahead of schedule, which is unheard of in a project this size. Typically, these projects have quite a bit of overrun in time, but we’re ahead of schedule. More importantly, we are also getting ready to actually ship the product.”
What does Gistelinck credit to the Jansen project being this far advanced? Essentially, it boils down to planning and good teamwork.
“One is the innovative way in which we are approaching the project, through an integrated project team,” she explained, eschewing the typical EPCM project management model. “We’re actually building it together with the large construction companies.
“The second thing is, I think we did a good job in planning for some of the labour shortages,” continued Gistelinck. “We went out and actually recruited labour force here in Saskatchewan, but also in other provinces to really make sure we have the critical trades for construction available. And I think last but not least is just the way we have actually been thinking about community readiness. One of the things that usually companies trip over is that the infrastructure is not available in the communities. And we’ve thought carefully about this, and this has helped us address some of these challenges.”
With signed agreements in hand between BHP and global customers for 12 million tons of Saskatchewan potash, Gistelinck is anticipating first shipments to happen in about two years.
“We’re ready,” she said. “We will be operating in 2026; we’ll have our first train out of Jansen in 2026 and our first shipment out in 2027.”
BHP’s investment in the Jansen project has been significant and will bolster economies in surrounding municipalities, which will feel the ripple effects in secondary and tertiary industries as well. The company has already committed $18 billion, making this the largest private investment in the history of Saskatchewan.
“It is also the single largest capital investment of BHP in its entire 139-year history,” Gistelinck said. “This is a big deal. It is really an important milestone for a company and for Saskatchewan.”
There are around 30,000 people living in the region around the Jansen project, and Gistelinck estimates some 900 employees will be recruited to work at the mine. Taking into account those employees often bring families along with them, that means around 3,500 more people calling the area home.
“That’s massive for that region, and today there’s simply not the housing units available, the child care spots available, the health care system is already under strain,” Gistelinck noted in the face of the projected 10 per cent population boom. “So we need to work together again, collaborative, to solve some of these challenges, to enable the growth.”
In anticipation of those growing challenges, a community group known as the Sylvite Four-Six Regional Development Incorporation has been established that is focused on supporting outcomes in the areas of housing, childcare, labour, training and education, inclusive relationships, emergency services, infrastructure, and economic development.
One example Gistelinck pointed to was employment, with the mining sector projected to see 20,000 new jobs created in the next five years.
“We need to work together to find innovative ways to bring new people into the industry and create career paths that are meaningful, that they want to stay in the industry for,” she said. As a solution for the Jansen project, BHP has partnered with the Carlton Trail Regional College in Humboldt and Saskatchewan Polytechnic to create programming that prepares more of the local workforce for the mining sector and gets them on-site.
“It’s not just about filling the 900 jobs that Jensen will create, it’s about that long-term competitiveness of Saskatchewan,” Gistelinck said. “We need to do more of these programs, and we need to do this collectively.”
Pre-employment mining programs in Saskatchewan have proven to be successful, such as the Morris Interactive - Digital Transformation in Potash Mining program, which saw the partnership of the Cowessess First Nation and The Mosaic Company. Two years into the program, it boasts an 83 per cent success rate and has funding secured for a future five years. Cameco, Orano, and SSR Mining are other companies with similar partnership success stories in the province.
“As an industry, we need to continue to appeal to our workforce, to people who may not even have considered a career in mining or agriculture. Engaging women, Indigenous communities, new Canadians can help us unlock the full potential of our labour force and ensure that we have the talent needed to drive our industry forward,” Gistelinck said. “Achieving this will require, however, that we all lean in, that we all take risks and that we all bring solutions to the table.”
Another important aspect is linking with local suppliers, which Gistelinck noted represents almost a billion dollars worth of BHP’s overall investment in the Jansen project.
“We actually work a lot with local small- to medium-sized companies,” she told the Plain & Valley. “So out of the $18 billion project, we’ve already spent about almost $1 billion with local companies here in Saskatchewan. There are companies of all sizes—your mom-and-pop shops, businesses of one to 10 people, really small businesses, all the way to the Grahams and the SSR Mining of the world. So absolutely it’s a priority for us, local procurement.”
Gistelinck also mentioned how the Saskatchewan Industrial & Mining Suppliers Association plays a big role in making those connections.
“We work together with SIMSA a lot to develop very sustainable value chains for the construction phase, but also for ongoing operations,” she said, adding that BHP was present for last year’s SIMSA Mining Forum. “We just hosted with them a SIMSA-BHP supplier day, where we actually bring together existing suppliers, but also people who are interested in working with BHP to learn more about Jansen, about the upcoming work that is available, the work packages that they can bid on, and also on how to do business with BHP.”
Once Jansen is fully operational, an estimated 8.5 million tonnes of potash per year will be produced.
