The Potash mining sector experienced a major boom in the past decade, during which Wood provided Engineering, Procurement, Construction Management (EPCM) services for a series of projects totaling $10 billion CAD. The projects followed a natural progression in size dictated by their economic return on investment, and grew with and finally exceeded local construction capacity. They spanned general economic cycles and unexpected global events. As such, the projects provide a rich data set to analyze the effects of changing market conditions, competing projects, and management strategies compared to project size. This paper summarizes these projects' characteristics relating to cost performance in a highly challenging business environment.
