The Mosaic Company is temporarily shutting down its Colonsay potash mine, affecting around 350 workers. The mine will stay closed with a small crew still employed to keep the facility in standby until market conditions improve.

In a news release, the company says that their potash and fertilizer businesses are performing well, but weakness in the phosphates market had a negative impact in their second quarter results. Mosaic President and CEO Joc O’Rourke says the company expects strong price increases in grains and depleted soil nutrients, meaning fertilizer applications will be significantly higher this fall.

Mosaic has also announced accelerating the development of the low-cost K3 potash mine near Esterhazy and permanently closing its Plant City phosphates facility in Florida. O’Rourke says, the K3 potash project is on schedule and has produced over 400-thousand tonnes of ore as of June 30th. “This production, combined with available inventory, facilitated the temporary idling of the higher cost Colonsay potash mine.”