The Company:
Gensource is based in Saskatoon and is focused on developing Saskatchewan’s next potash production facility in that province – but with a radically and fundamentally different approach.
Gensource’s President and CEO, Mike Ferguson, P.Eng., has assembled a management and technical team with direct and specific expertise and experience in potash development in Saskatchewan.
Gensource operates under a business plan that has two key components: (1) vertical integration with the market to ensure all production capacity built is directed, and pre-sold, to a specific market, eliminating market-side risk; and (2) technical innovation which will allow for a small and economic potash production facility, which is much friendlier to the environment to construct and operate.
The company is currently pursuing its proposed Vanguard One solution mine project located near Eyebrow.
The Achievement:
Many natural resource projects face significant, time-consuming environmental assessment review, but Gensource has succeeded in skipping to the front of the line. The Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment determined the Vanguard One project is not required to complete a full Environmental Impact Assessment since the project has a number of positive environmental attributes that will not trigger the stringent criteria of the Saskatchewan Environmental Assessment Act.
Consequently, the project can proceed to the next stage of the environmental regulatory process: Detailed construction licensing.
“This is a fantastic outcome for Gensource and our Vanguard One project and is exactly what the team was working towards. Vanguard One will be much more environmentally friendly with no salt tailings and no brine ponds of any sort. This decision by the Ministry not only confirms one of our core values as a company to provide a cleaner source of potash production but it is also a crucial element to our project success. It enables a much faster, more efficient and cost-effective overall project development timeline,” says Ferguson.
The Team:
Ferguson expects the project will require roughly 75 person-years of engineering to complete design and construction. Once built, the mine will likely employ 3 to 4 engineers.