A potash mine near Saskatoon has shut down for a day after a fire forced nearly 100 workers into refuge stations for several hours.
Bill Johnson, a spokesman with Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, said the small fire broke out Wednesday afternoon at the company's Allan mine.
The fire was sparked by an underground water truck and sent smoke throughout the mine, he said.
The 96 workers on shift spent the next eight hours in self-contained safety units until a crew was able to put out the fire and clear the smoke.
The workers were not injured and were sent home after they were brought to the surface.
Johnson said the mine was closed on Thursday.
"It was a pretty long night for everyone, so we won't be operating today."
He expected the mine would resume operations on Friday. A review of the event is also underway, he said.
There have been similar occurrences at other Saskatchewan mines in recent years.
In February, about 50 workers at the Agrium mine near Vanscoy spent a night in the facility's refuge station due to a fire.
In 2013, 318 miners raced to safety units after flames broke out at Mosaic's K2 potash mine near Esterhazy. They spent several hours underground until the smoke had cleared. Seven years earlier, a fire at the same facility trapped 72 workers in refuge stations for 30 hours.
Another fire in 2012 at PotashCorp's Rocanville mine in eastern Saskatchewan forced 20 miners to seek shelter. It took about 10 hours to put out the fire and several more hours for rescue crews to determine that it was safe for workers to leave.
