Nutrien to cut jobs and MOP output at Vanscoy mine

Canadian potash producer Nutrien will cut jobs at its Vanscoy mine in the fourth quarter of this year, as it makes efforts to rebalance its potash production across its six mines. Operational capacity at Vanscoy will fall by around 400,000 t/yr as a result.

Vanscoy's new operational capacity will be 2.1mn t/yr after the 400,000 t/yr reduction but the amount will be offset by rising production at other mines in Saskatchewan, Nutrien said.

The rebalancing allows Vanscoy to operate more efficiently within Nutrien's potash network, the company said today. It does not anticipate any impact on potash quality or availability as a result of the changes.

Nutrien was formed as a merger between Agrium and PotashCorp on 2 January 2018. The company pledged to generate $500mn/yr of operation synergies from distribution and retail integration, production, selling, general and administrative optimisation and procurement savings by the end of 2019.

PotashCorp brought five mines to the new company Nutrien — totalling around 14mn t/yr of nameplate capacity — while Agrium owned just one mine, the Vanscoy mine.