![]() ![]() Photo by CHRIS HENDRICKSON / POSTMEDIA WIRE files ![]() Jansen, when completed, will produce 4.5 million tonnes of potash out of an estimated total market of 70 million tonnes. In August, after BHP had announced it would fund the project to completion, chief executive Mike Henry told the Financial Post, “The reality is, we are where we are and this is the best use of the next shareholder dollar.” The $7.5-billion project remains years away from operation, and whether the company would fully fund the project or just walk away was an open question until last year. “But now it’s all about: are you selling critical national security interests? That’s really the litmus test now.”ĭuring the past decade, BHP has slowly invested billions of dollars to build infrastructure for a potash mine called Jansen, east of Saskatoon. “Net impact on jobs … that was what we were concerned about in 2010,” he told the Financial Post this week. In December, he helped revive the idea of a BHP takeover of Nutrien in an interview in the Australian Financial Review and he continues to tell the media that supply chain issues have risen in significance in Canada and shifted the discourse around foreign investment. He now says times have changed and the Australian mining giant “would likely pass muster” were he to review the acquisition again.Ĭlement, who left government in 2018, now co-chairs Reshoring Canada, a non-profit that advocates for supply chain resiliency. Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Liam Richards filesīilson also noted BHP in 2010 tried to buy an earlier iteration of Nutrien, but was blocked by former industry minister Tony Clement. Article content Nutrien President and CEO Mayo Schmidt speaks in Saskatoon on Oct. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Both took place as Nutrien’s share price has been steadily climbing - about 150 per cent since March 2020. The company offered no explanation for either executive exit. That followed the departure of his predecessor, Chuck Magro in April 2021. His speculation also coincided with a political dust-up in Ottawa about the effect of foreign takeovers on supply chain resiliency, rising tensions with China and the green energy transition, all of which have touched a nerve in Canada.īHP and Nutrien both declined to comment on the situation.īy “weird stuff,” Bilson was referring to Nutrien’s announcement earlier this month that chief executive Mayo Schmidt is departing after just eight months on the job. Though Bilson said he was merely speculating, a round of media followed up with articles in Bloomberg, the CBC, and the Motley Fool that gave potash fertilizer - a pillar of Saskatchewan’s economy that rarely makes the news - a rare round of publicity.
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