Intrepid Potash Cane Creek Mine, Utah

Cane Creek is an underground potash mine, near Moab, Utah, opened in 1963 by the TexasGulf Company which was seeking to diversify from its increasingly obsolete sulfur operations in Texas and Louisiana. The mine accesses an ore body known as the Paradox Basin, 3,000 feet below the surface. In 1963, soon after the mine opened, 18 people died in an explosion in the mine. It was converted into a solution mine in 1970, using water from the adjacent Colorado River to dissolve the potash, and bring it to the surface, where massive evaporation ponds, located two miles from the plant, further concentrate the ore. The mine can produce between 75,000 and 120,000 tons of potash annually, depending on evaporation rates, which vary widely, depending on temperature and rainfall. In 2000, the Intrepid Oil and Gas Company bought the mine, and changed its name to Intrepid Potash. Intrepid learned about in-situ solution mining here, and applied this experience to other potash operations it acquired, in New Mexico, and Wendover, Utah.