PotashCorp suit begins over construction problems at mine near Sussex
Comstock Canada Ltd. seeks $53 million in suit over mine that is now closed
More than 40 file boxes of documents were stacked in a Saint John courtroom as 10 lawyers representing three companies settled in Monday for the opening of what is expected to be an eight-week trial over construction practices at the former PotashCorp mine in Penobsquis, near Sussex.
The case will have no impact whatsoever on the future of the mine, where operations were suspended in January 2016, about 15 months after the $2.2 billion dollar facility went into production.
About 430 direct jobs were lost.
The company, now named Nutrien, announced the permanent closure of its Picadilly mine in November 2018.
The lawsuit was launched during construction in 2010 after PotashCorp terminated Comstock Canada Ltd.'s contract.
Comstock launched a $53 million suit against PotashCorp and engineering management company Amec Foster Wheeler.
It alleges breach of contract. The company claimed in court documents that it couldn't complete the work on time or on budget because PotashCorp and Amec both breached the contract by adding to the scope of work and changing the designs.
"Design changes started early on the project," Comstock lawyer Howard Wise said in his opening remarks to Justice Deborah Hackett.
"You will hear about schedules and changes to those schedules."
"Comstock could not finish the contract as originally agreed."
Wise told the court that evidence will be presented to show that design changes changed the scope and the cost of the work, and that those changes continued even after Constock's termination in July 2010.
Wise said other "pieces of the puzzle" were required to be in place for Comstock's workers to do their job.
But the building was not enclosed, as agreed beforehand, and two large 10-tonne and 25-tonne cranes were also not available when needed.
Comstock Canada filed for insolvency in 2014 under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, but the Comstock name is still being used in the suit.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
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