Tremor that shook Esterhazy not caused by mining operations gone wrong

The tremor that shook Esterhazy on Friday around 7:30 p.m. wasn’t the result of any mining disaster.

Marnel Jones, Mosaic director of government and public affairs for Canada, said safety checks and inspections of the community’s mining operations were done according to protocol, and the mining company didn’t find anything of concern that would have caused an earthquake.

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Three hours after the event, at 10:30 p.m., Jones said operations at the potash mine were back up and running as normal.

She said that salt removal or injection activities can create seismic activity, rather than the “active mining itself.”

University of Saskatchewan seismologist Igor Morozov echoed this in an emailed statement, explaining how, “after potash salt gets washed out or mined, the rock above it moves down and sometimes cracks,” and can cause tremors.

While Jones said that seismic activity is “common” in south central Saskatchewan, it isn’t “an everyday occurrence.”

“I think the last one was around 2021, the one before that 2018,” she said.

According to Morozov, it’s not cause for concern and earthquakes above magnitude five are a rarity in Saskatchewan.

“The public should hardly worry about such events and they are rarely felt,” he wrote.

Jones said the impacts tremors like Friday’s in Esterhazy have been insignificant, with power outages being the only issue they’ve really seen in the past, and that didn’t happen this time.

That could in part be thanks to the buildings and infrastructure, which she said were designed to withstand earthquakes.

Tremor rattled residents

While the tremor may not have caused major damage, it still created concern in Esterhazy.

“It only lasted a few seconds,” according to Leah Gillespie, a longtime Esterhazy resident, “but it was enough to get our daughter running upstairs in a panic.”

“The deck shifted big time, the house was moving. We actually thought something hit the house or a gas line blew up,” she said, adding that her windows looked as if they were bouncing in and out.

Meanwhile, Leah’s mother-in-law Cindy Gillespie saw her chairs and deck shake.

“At first we thought someone hit the front of our house with a car,” she said. “My doggy door has a flap on it, and it flapped.”

According to Cindy, her sister, who works at the local liquor store, saw wine bottles shaking on the shelves.

“(I have experienced) nothing this big,” Cindy said about Friday evening’s tremor. “Just a little shake years ago. But not like this.”

— with files from Jacob Bamhour, 980 CJME

Read more:

• Saskatchewan is Canada’s most attractive jurisdiction for mining investment: Survey
• Jansen potash mine delayed, BHP cites rising costs
• ‘A fantastic life’: Reflections from a second-generation Allan Potash miner