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The organization representing Saskatchewan’s unionized potash miners wants Mosaic Co. to stop storing human excrement underground at one of its mines in the province, and instead follow the example set by other potash operations by hauling it to the surface for disposal.

There is no good reason for the Plymouth, Minn.-based company to continue emptying portable toilets into large underground pits at its Esterhazy mine complex about 190 kilometres east of Regina, said Darrin Kruger, a veteran miner and member of the Saskatoon-based Saskatchewan Potash Council.

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“It’s burying human waste in your workplace — it’s disgusting,” Kruger said, adding that, as far as he is aware, none of the other 10 potash mines in Saskatchewan store waste underground.

“They say it’s not a biohazard … (But) why do we need to bury (excrement) in people’s workplaces?”

Mosaic has experimented with different chemicals to treat the pits — which are eight feet deep and about 100 feet long — but foul odours have been a problem for years, according to Perry Bubnick, a 40-year industry veteran who co-chairs Unifor Local 892’s health and safety committee at the Esterhazy mine.