Five Ways The Potash Mine Closure Hurts New Brunswick
SUSSEX–Yesterday’s devastating news that PotashCorp will suspend operations at its Picadilly mine near Sussex continues to reverberate around New Brunswick. People in the Sussex area and beyond are coming to terms with the shocking decision to shutter a mine that the company spent billions of dollars developing.
Here are five ways the closure of the Picadilly mine hurts New Brunswick.
Direct Job Loss
About 430 people will lose well-paying jobs at the mine. In addition to the immediate strain on those families and their finances, it also means less is spent in local stores, restaurants and services, and less tax income for the province. The company has offered to move 100 people to open jobs in its Saskatchewan operations, but cutting the local population and taking away skilled workers only serves to exacerbate the problems the closure causes for the local community.
Indirect Job Loss
The closure will have a ripple effect throughout the New Brunswick economy, hurting the many suppliers who count on work related to the PotashCorp mine. There’s nothing there to immediately fill the void and the resulting slowdown is likely to cost jobs.
Lost Provincial Royalties
Energy and Mines Minister Don Arsenault says the province will lose an estimated $18 million in royalties. That’s a bitter pill for a province seeking savings and new revenues to address a $500 million structural deficit.
Lost NB Power Sales
The Picadilly mine was a big user of electricity, purchasing 25 to 40 megawatts of power each year according to NB Power. That’s gone now, and with it, likely millions of dollars in revenue for the province’s electricity monopoly.
Less Shipping Traffic
PotashCorp shipped its products around the world from the nearby Port of Saint John. The Port’s CEO Jim Quinn says that potash represented about 400,000 metric tons of cargo. That’s about two percent of last year’s total tonnage shipped through the port.