DAVIDSON—Another big piece of mining equipment made its way past Davidson on Highway 11 last Wednesday, bound for the K+S potash mine near Bethune.
A giant crystallizer, fabricated by JNE Welding of Saskatoon, left the city Jan. 6 for a three-day journey to Bethune.
Crystallization is a process used to obtain industrial grade potassium chloride and involves mixing potash with hot water while agitating it at very high temperatures.
The crystallization unit that passed by Davidson weighed 330 tonnes and was 10.1 metres wide, 56.7 m long and 11.6 m high. SaskPower crews were on hand throughout the trip to either push up power lines or briefly cut them so the load could clear them.
Power was out briefly Wednesday in the Davidson area for about 10 minutes between 2 and 2:30 in the afternoon.
The large vessel spent Wednesday night in Davidson before setting off Thursday morning on the final leg of its journey to the K+S mine site.
This was the second large piece of equipment to pass by Davidson.
In November a gigantic evaporator made a similar journey to the K+S mine.