About Yorkton and Saskatchewan
Farming
Saskatchewan has 37 million acres
of cropland, 41.7% of all cropland in Canada. All those acres mean that
Saskatchewan
is the centre of Canadian grain and oilseed production. Strong demand for grains
and oilseeds, for everything from instant noodles in China to bio fuels in the United States, has suddenly made this sector a
white-hot segment of Canada's economy. Grain prices have
doubled and in some cases tripled in the past two years, it's fun to watch!
Every farmer that comes into Yorkton now is just
grinning from ear to ear.
Put optimism into
any farm and farmers are apt to spend money upgrading equipment. Saskatchewan is a hotbed
for agricultural equipment innovation. There were 89 farm equipment
manufacturers in Saskatchewan. Bourgault Industries in the tiny
village of
St. Brieux is a world
leader in developing and manufacturing air drills and other zero-till seeding
equipment. Global agricultural manufacturing giants Case New Holland and John
Deere have respectively bought out two other innovative Saskatchewan air drill companies Morris Industries has
been a major manufacture of farm Machinery in Yorkton for over 50 Years.
Lentils
Canada is by far the largest
export producer of lentils in the world and
Saskatchewan grows 80% of
Canada' s
lentils.
Canada
exported almost five times more lentils than
Turkey , the
next largest exporter in 2006-07. World lentil production was 4.17 mega tonnes
in 2005-06. Canadian production reached a record of 1.28 mega tonnes that
year.
Regina-based
Viterra Inc., the result of last year's acquisition of Agricore United by
Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Inc., has Canada's largest grain handling network and
extensive operations and distribution capabilities across
Canada and in the
United States and
Japan . It's also involved in seed
development, agri-product sales, food processing, equipment sales, livestock and
financial products.
Mustard
Like hot dogs?
Saskatchewan
accounts for nearly 90% of Canadian mustard production and nearly half the
world's supply of mustard seed. The United
States, Japan and Belgium are the major export markets
for mustard seeds.
Canola
Crushing
Yorkton is located in the heart ofWestern Canada's prime canola-growing region.
James
Richardson International Ltd., has started construction on a
$100-million Dollar operation. The state-of-the-art plant will be capable of
processing 840,000 tonnes of canola per year when the building is finished, in
2008 or 2009.
Louis Dreyfus Canada Ltd., said its $90-million
canola-crushing facility will be operational in 2008. The Louis Dreyfus
plant will be able to handle 850,000 tonnes of canola a year.
Potash
During the middle Devonian
Period, between 375 and 400 million years ago, much ofSaskatchewan was covered by the shallow
Elk Point Sea. from the Northwest Territories to North Dakota, right under Yorkton. Over time the sea became almost
completely cut off from the open ocean. The isolated sea evaporated under the
hot dry climate. The potash zones are sandwiched between rock salt formations within the
prairie evaporite. The lower esterhazy member is mined for potash amounts of
sylvite, carnallite and clay. The main ore zone occurs at a depth of
approximately 960 meters or 3150 Feet.
Potash is the rarest
of the four main nutrients that plants need to grow. It gets its name from the
pre-industrial process used to obtain it, by leaching vegetable ashes and
evaporating the solution in iron pots. As farmers around the world increase
production to meet new demand for food and feed, Saskatchewan's naturally occurring potash is a
hot commodity.
Mosaic Esterhazy was the first potash mine in the
province and is currently the largest in the world. It is an hour southeast of Yorkton, it is home to Mosaic Company’s massive K1 and
K2 potash
mines.
Agrium Inc. a leading global producer and
marketer of agricultural nutrients, has announced plans to spend 2 billion dollars on a potash mine 30 minutes south of
Yorkton
Potash Corp of Saskatchewan
Rocanville is a
conventional underground potash mine.
There are no homes for
sale in potash central, Esterhazy Sask. you can expect a long wait if you are
planning on building. Workers are flooding in to ride the wave of potash mine
expansion in the area. Today the whole province seems to be taking off.
Yorkton is on top of all of this potash.
Yorkton also has access to major rail carriers, a good highway
system and the necessary infrastructure including millions of dollars in
upgrades in water and sewer.
Urainium and Rare earth
Elements
The Northern Saskatchewan has the richest uranium deposits in the world. The
province is the world’s largest producer of uranium and accounts for about a
quarter of global uranium production. With the opening of Cameco’s Cigar Lake
mine this year, plus a series of planned expansions and new mines, uranium
production in the province is expected to double in the near future.The same
fault line that was the site of the province’s original uranium mines also holds
significant deposits of rare earth elements (REEs). Great West Minerals Group is
currently in the process of developing a mine at Hoidas Lake,
30 miles north of Uranium City. When operational it will be one of
the very few REE mines in production outside of China.
Anyone looking at a periodic table of elements will notice
two rows sitting off by themselves at the bottom. REEs comprise the top row in
this group. The deposit is particularly rich in neodymium (Nd), a mineral used
in the permanent magnets that are the base for the electric motors used in
hybrid vehicles. Others like cerium (Ce) and lanthanum (La) are used in
rechargeable batteries. Global demand is expected to double by 2012. We
currently have 1.2 million tonnes in what is called the measured and indicated
category, about a 10-year supply.
Oil
Southeastern
Saskatchewan is home to the
Canadian portion of the Bakken oil field. According to current estimates, the
Bakken contains at least three
billion barrels and is the most significant oil find in Canada since Alberta’s Pembina Cardium field was discovered
in 1957. The portion of the Bakken field located in North
Dakota was identified as early as 1953, but development
of the Canadian portion would have to wait for the refinement of horizontal
drilling techniques over the past few years.
Saskatchewan's conventional oil in
place is currently estimated at 39.3 billion barrels with more than 30 billion
barrels of that beyond reach, for now. There are 20,000 active wells and an
estimated 25 billion barrels of heavy or oilsands oil. "Approximately $2.8
billion was invested in exploring and developing oil and gas in Saskatchewan last year, however it is
estimated that only about 15% of our discovered oil in place will be produced,"
notes Minister of Energy.
"If recovery rates were to increase by five
percentage points, our remaining reserves would more than double from current
levels."
Diamonds
The world's
largest diamond-bearing
formation is in the area around
Fort à la Corne, just east of Prince Albert in the centre
of the province. While this region contains over 1.2 billion tonnes of
diamondiferous kimberlite, the entire province is considered to be prospective
ground for diamond exploration. The diamond exploration areas in Saskatchewan are well
serviced with infrastructure including roads and power, providing a significant
cost advantage. There is a good chance of a new mine being built 1hour west of
Yorkton.
Energy
Saskatchewan is
Canada's largest primary energy
producer on a per-capita basis. It has 3% of the population but produces 33% of
the country's primary energy.
Saskatchewan
’s energy sources include coal,
oil, natural gas, hydro-electric, uranium, wind and bio fuels.
Lumber
More than half of
Saskatchewan
is forested, about evenly split between hardwood, softwood and mixed forests.
According to a 2006 provincial task force report, 300 forest companies operate
in the province. Their assets include two pulp and paper mills, two oriented
strand board plants, a plywood mill and five large sawmills, in addition to a
number of re-manufacturing operations. Canada's first
waferboard plant and the world’s first closed-loop, liquid effluent-free
hardwood pulp mill were built in our area.
Tourism and Recreation
Minnesota bills itself as the
"land of 10,000 lakes." Saskatchewan contains an astonishing 100,000
lakes. Yorkton, being in the center of the parkland,
is minutes away from many great lakes.
According to
Saskatchewan Tourism, the northern half of the province is home to one of the
largest concentrations of fly-in fishing camps in the world. In 2007, the
world's largest rainbow trout was pulled from Lake Diefenbaker.
Yorkton
is situated on the large network of snowmobiling trails and routes that enter
the city on the both sides of Broadway.
Like Golfing? Yorkton
is in the center of a dozen Golf courses, the most per capita in Canada.
Hunting and fishing are plentiful and easily accessible in this
area.
Roads and Highways
Yorkton also has access to major rail carriers, three good highway
systems and the necessary upgrades to its streets and
roadways.
Saskatchewan
has over 250,000 kilometres of roads, more road surface than any other Canadian
province. Its roads date back to when the province was originally surveyed for
settlement in the late 1800s. Today there are 26,000 kilometres of highways and
divided highways, 9,000 kilometres of paved municipal road, 5,000 kilometres of
granular paved municipal roads, 7,000 kilometres of thin membrane surfaces,
5,600 kilometres of gravel highways and more than 197,000 kilometres of dirt
roads.