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PENOBSQUIS - The Sussex area’s biggest employer has announced another large gift to benefit young people.

The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (PotashCorp), which is currently constructing a second mine near Sussex, has donated $100,000 to the capital campaign to expand Portage Atlantic’s rehabilitation centre for youth at Cassidy Lake.

The rural community near Norton is also home to the PotashCorp-owned mine that closed due to flooding more than a decade ago. Today, the site employs only a handful of people who welcome drivers delivering truck load after truck load of brine from its leaky Penobsquis mine.

The brine is dumped into the Bay of Fundy at that site.

Nearby, youth to age 21 are attempting to cure their addictions at Portage’s residential drug and alcohol treatment centre. With PotashCorp’s gift, $1.25 million has been raised through the centre’s Making Miracles Happen campaign to improve the tired, inadequate facilities in which the youth live, learn and heal.

“Supporting organizations like Portage Atlantic is important to PotashCorp,” said Mark Fracchia, general manager of PotashCorp’s New Brunswick operations. “We want to contribute to our community, not only by providing well-paying jobs but also by helping local organizations in their efforts to improve the quality of life in our area.

“Helping youth overcome their addictions so they can return to their communities and lead productive lives is an important endeavour (we are) happy to support.”

The provincial division of PotashCorp typically contributes between $30,000 and $40,000 a year to local charities and community organizations, he said, as well the company matches money raised by their local workers for charity.