Potash Corp. is building a second mine in New Brunswick. A new pipeline will stop a large number of trucks carrying heavily salted water between Penobsquis and Cassidy Lake. (Courtesy of Potash Corp.)

The daily rumble of 300 tanker trucks from Penobsquis to Cassidy Lake, N.B., will soon end as a 30-kilometre pipeline is completed at the Picadilly potash mine.

For the next few years, until Potash Corp. opens its new mine in southern New Brunswick, the line will carry away heavily salted water that is now leaking into the potash mine in Penobsquis.

Each day, 300 tankers truck out the brine from the potash mine. About 200 of those trucks then make their way along Route 865 to a holding pond at Cassidy Lake, roughly 30 kilometres away. From that holding pond, a pipeline carries the salt water to the Bay of Fundy.

The pipeline project is part of Potash Corp.'s $1.67-billion project to build a new mine in the area.

Mark Fracchia, general manager of the existing potash mine, said he expects the pipeline to be completed in two to three weeks, followed by a testing period.

"That will take probably around two weeks to complete and then after that we'll hopefully be able to reduce some of the trucking."

Fracchia said some of the trucks will continue to operate so the mine can clear underground storage space.

That's in case the water leak gets bigger before the mine is closed in a few years.

When the new Picadilly mine goes into operation in 2012, the pipeline will continue to carry a brine solution to the bay.

"Eventually when the Picadilly mine is up and running and we close the existing mine, then we won't have an inflow to deal with but it's going to handle the excess brine produced in the Picadilly mill," Fracchia said.

Accidents have happened

For several years, people along the two-lane road have lived with the heavy trucks and accidents.

Four years ago, a truck hit Trevor Callahan's house.

"The whole house just shook. I come upstairs, I look out the picture window in the living room and the windshield of the truck was right there," Callahan said.

Callahan called it a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. He said he has no hard feelings toward the mine or the truckers, some of whom will be losing their jobs when the pipeline starts operating.