New England Salt Company eyes PotashCorp's road salt business

A U.S.-based road salt supplier is setting up shop near the New Brunswick borderhoping to cash in on the closing of the PotashCorpmine near Sussex.

PotashCorp is a major supplier of roadsalt in the Maritime provinces.

New England Salt Company, based inWinterport, Me., has announced it is setting up an operation at the Eastport Port Authority, hoping to pick up business in eastern Maine andthe Maritime provinces.

William Massow, the company's vice-president of operations, says the plan came together quickly after he learned about the closing of the PotashCorp mine.

In the past, we didn't know if we could be competitive.- William Massow, New England Salt Company

"We're just looking to expand," said Massow.

"In the past, we didn't know if we could be competitive."

Easport is ideal, said Massow,because it can accommodate large ships, has a newly constructed laydown area, and a new conveyer system and scales.

The plan, he said, is to sign a contract this week to take over the space.

There should be no difficulty shipping salt across the border into New Brunswick, said Massow.

The first shipment of mined salt from South America will bring 55,000 tonnes to the port, which is located45 kilometresby highway from the New Brunswick border.

In announcing the closure of the Picadilly Mine last month, Mark Fracchia, thePotashCorppresident,said the company would honour contracts with Cargill, the international company that distributes salt from the mine.

In an email to CBC, Mark Klein, aCargill spokesperson, said PotashCorp and Cargill "are working through current winter contract needs and continue to discuss their contract and relationship needs."

The provincial government purchases about 140,000 tonnes of salt annually for use on its highways.All of it has comefrom the Picadilly mine.

Many of the province's municipalities anda large amount of the salt used on highways in northern parts of Maine came fromPicadilly.

Salt will continue to be mined at Picadilly for the rest of thewinter, according to a PotashCorp spokesperson.