Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan has announced some operational changes at their Cory, Lanigan and Allan mines.

Around 100 permanent employees and 40 temporary positions were given layoff notices on Wednesday. There will still be 350 employees who will continue working at the facility.

Randy Burton, the Director of Public Relations and Communications says this isn't an easy day for their company.

"It's a very tough day for our employees and their families and for the company as a whole. We don't take these kinds of decisions lightly at all and we're going to do everything we can to ease the transition for the effected employees with severance packages, transition programs and perhaps a few openings elsewhere in the company."

The reduction will begin to take place in February.

It was also announced that the Lanigan facility will stop production for six weeks beginning in January, while the Allan mine will halt for a period of 12 weeks starting in February.

Burton explained more on that development.

"The market is still a bit out of balance, we're going to be taking some inventory adjustment shutdowns at both Allan and Lanigan in the new year. Those will be temporary layoffs and a number of employees will be kept on to do maintenance and capital work."

Although these announcements are unlikely to be rescinded PCS is positive in their thinking towards the future.

"Sales have been relatively strong recently and in spite of these setbacks long term the company still remains strong," Burton added. "In fact, even with these changes today we're employing more people in Saskatchewan today than we were two years ago."

You can hear more from Burton below in his interview with Bolt FM's Clark Stork.