Rumours of Linbergh Salt Plant Closing

Last week LCN received an anonymous tip from an employee at the Linbergh Windsor Salt Plant facility that employees were told the plant was planning to close in two years to move its operations to Saskatchewan. LCN reached out to Lindsay Caradonna, with Ketchum Public Relations, whom represents the salt plant. The following statement has been released in regards to the rumoured closure:

Windsor Salt has been part of Western Canada for over 65 years and we remain committed to operating in the region.  To have a sustainable presence, we need to ensure our production network can meet the needs of the marketplace for the long-term. That’s why we’re currently analyzing ways to strengthen our network in Western Canada.  For competitive reasons, we are not in a position to share details of our analysis. But I can confirm that we are not making any major changes with respect to our operations at this time.  It’s business as usual at our production sites in Western Canada and we will continue to focus on the needs of our customers across the country.

The Linbergh Windsor Salt Plant facility began development in 1946-47; back then it was the Anglo-Canadian Oil Company Ltd.  According to the History of the Lindbergh, “instead of oil, these ventures revealed a new resource, a bed of salt. It was an extension of the McMurray salt bed which is believed to be over 700 miles in length, about one half mile below the sur­face and about 1000 feet in depth.”

The salt plant construction was completed in 1948; the facility produced 120 tonnes of salt a day and employed 40 people. Today, a team of 50 employees produce a wide variety of salt products for different consumer, commercial and Industrial uses in Western Canada. The Windsor Salt website, windsorsalt.com states that along with salt products, “the Lindbergh Facility encompasses its own natural gas wells, cogeneration plant and a state of the art water treatment facility for producing and supplying drinking water to the Facility and residents of Riverview, a small Hamlet of The County of St. Paul, AB.”