BHP awards three Jansen contracts to First Nation community

BHP has announced the award of three new contracts for its Jansen potash project in Saskatchewan, Canada, in collaboration with local First Nation communities. The contracts cover camp management, site services, and raw ore/handling foundation, and feature representation from the six First Nations surrounding the Jansen site.

The Opportunity Agreements established in 2012 aim to create long-term mutual benefit for BHP and First Nation communities, enhancing mutual capacity and forging new relationships with Indigenous Peoples to create local employment, business opportunities, and skills development. The contracts, valued at CAD$260 million, will support over 400 local jobs, with more than 50% planned to be Indigenous. Since sanctioning Jansen Stage 1 in August 2021, a total of CAD$470 million in contracts have been awarded to Indigenous businesses in the region. BHP is working with First Nation Opportunity Agreement partners and other Indigenous groups to identify long-term job opportunities and has launched pre-apprenticeship programmes to prepare individuals for the mining industry.

“We deeply appreciate our mutually beneficial agreements with First Nation partner communities and look forward to continuing to work together,” shared Caroline Cox, Chief Legal, Governance and External Affairs Officer. “Our partnerships are based on respect and through our work together we seek to better understand Indigenous voices, values, knowledge and perspectives and to incorporate them into the way we work. We strongly believe this will make BHP a more successful company.”