REGINA – Brazilian miner Vale is blaming “challenging economic conditions” for a decision to postpone a three-billion-dollar potash project in Saskatchewan.
   
The huge mine was to be developed near Kronau, southeast of Regina.
   
It would have employed more than 15-hundred workers during construction and up to 500 once it was opened.
   
The mine was expected to produce up to 2.9 million tonnes of potash annually.
   
A spokesman says Vale will continue working to secure a water source for the mine and on the project’s environmental impact assessment.
   
But there is no firm timeline on when construction of the potash mine will begin.
   
The Saskatchewan government calls the announcement unfortunate.
  
Potash is a key ingredient in fertilizer.