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The Mosaic Company has announced a $4 million investment to help expand Saskatchewan’s mining workforce.
On Tuesday, the fertilizer giant said the money would be given to train students at Saskatchewan Polytechnic ($1.5 million), Suncrest College ($1.5 million) and the Good Spirit School Division ($1.05 million).
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Marnel Jones, Mosaic’s director of government and public affairs, said the investment is mostly focused on attracting local talent to the company’s potash operation in Esterhazy.
“Right now we really need to build our entire workforce pipeline for our industry, and in order to do that, we have to start early while the students are in high school, but then also look at the in-demand trades that we’re going to need now and in the future,” Jones said.
Jones said Mosaic is already looking to fill roles like industrial mechanic positions, saying there are about 20 rotating empty positions each year. In total, Jones said there are about 100 industrial mechanic roles in Esterhazy alone.
Jones said Esterhazy’s location makes it more difficult to attract talent.
“This really allows us to invest in the local community with individuals that already live there and really want to stay there and build a career and serve in their own communities,” she said.
Part of the investment ($1.05 million) is going toward building a new Practical and Applied Arts (PAA) Lab at Churchbridge High School, which is in the Good Spirit School Division.
“I’m flabbergasted. It’s transformative for our school division,” said Quintin Robertson, director of Education and Chief Executive Officer of Good Spirit.
“This means opening up doors and opportunities for our students that were never available in the past. So we’ll be able to almost quadruple the number of students that we’re able to put through our practical and applied arts millwright program in Churchbridge.”
Robertson said a portion of the donation will support transport costs for Churchbridge, whose PAA program buses in students from Langenburg, the town of Churchbridge and Esterhazy.
Alison Dubreuil, president and CEO of Suncrest, said the funding will help the college upgrade its industrial mechanics training lab.
She also said the partnership is incredibly convenient for students studying at the Good Spirit School Division, who would be able to continue their studies at Suncrest’s Esterhazy campus.
“It’s a great pathway for students in rural Saskatchewan,” she said. To be able to get this education at home is phenomenal, and we know that our learners thrive when they study close to home.”
Dr. Larry Rosia, director and CEO of SaskPolytech, said the funding is a model of how partnerships can benefit students, industry and the province as a whole.
“A gift like this demonstrates what can be done when industry and education work together towards a common cause, and that’s really providing these industries with the skills they’re going to need,” Rosia said.
Mosaic is also relaunching its Potash Mining Readiness Program in February 2026. It’s a training program for Indigenous students that was first launched in 2022.
The program’s newly revised curriculum focuses on training Indigenous students for entry-level operations roles in Esterhazy.
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