Western Potash: the lender writes the first affidavit

The most recent balance sheet Western Potash Corp. produced carries mineral property, plant and equipment at $367,638,957 as at May 31, 2026 — and, a few lines above it, cash of $1,835, per First Affidavit of Timothy Mister, Aug. 20, 2026, Exhibit A, p. 4. Those unaudited statements reached the Supreme Court of British Columbia not through the company's own application but as Exhibit A to an affidavit affirmed by Timothy Mister, Head of Credit and Royalties at Appian Capital Advisory LLC of New York, whose subsidiary WPC (Jersey) Limited has been financing the Milestone potash project since 2022 and has now petitioned its borrower into the CCAA, per First Affidavit of Timothy Mister, Aug. 20, 2026, paras. 1, 3.

That inversion is the signature of this filing. The first affidavit in a Canadian first-day record is ordinarily the principal's sworn narrative of how the business got here; Western Potash's arrives sworn by its senior secured lender, on the lender's petition, with the company's financial statements, corporate profiles and press releases entered as the lender's exhibits. The petition pleads the creditor-standing line of authority — the CCAA grants creditors standing to commence proceedings, citing Miniso International Hong Kong Limited v. Migu Investments Inc. — and the debtors did not oppose, per Petition, Aug. 20, 2026, Part 3, para. 14 and Notice of Hearing, Aug. 20, 2026, p. 1. On August 21, Justice Stephens granted the initial order in Vancouver Registry file No. S-266288, per Initial Order, Aug. 21, 2026, p. 1.

What $240 million built

Milestone sits 35 kilometres southeast of Regina: 84,557 acres of mineral leases — 21-year renewable Crown leases — and 65,405 acres of freehold leases, eleven potash exploration wells drilled, a reported mine life of 40 years and targeted production of 146,000 tonnes per annum, per First Affidavit of Timothy Mister, Aug. 20, 2026, paras. 13–16. The proposed monitor's report fills in what physically exists: all surface facilities are built, the crystallization ponds that separate potash from water are complete, and three underground horizontal caverns have been finished — the large voids into which water is injected and from which dissolved potash is drawn to surface. The company's own estimate is that run-rate production sits twelve months beyond the receipt of new capital, per Pre-Filing Report of FTI Consulting Canada Inc., Aug. 20, 2026, para. 24.

WPC's consultant reports had estimated total Phase I capital expenditures of $149.45 million. More than $240 million has been invested — including senior secured loans of not less than $85 million from Appian — and since 2024 management of the parent company has been seeking another $100 million to complete just Phase I, per First Affidavit of Timothy Mister, Aug. 20, 2026, para. 21. The petition puts the arithmetic bluntly: management could not finish the project "even with an amount of funding over 1.5 times the amount originally forecasted," and no appropriate explanations for the overruns have been provided, per Petition, Aug. 20, 2026, Part 2, paras. 23–24.

Construction stalled after September 30, 2023. On May 21, 2024 the parent announced operations were temporarily suspended so the borrower could focus on financing, and disclosed that two new horizontal caverns would be needed to reach initial production, per First Affidavit of Timothy Mister, Aug. 20, 2026, para. 19. The site has been in care and maintenance ever since, with a workforce the monitor understands to number approximately twelve employees, per Pre-Filing Report of FTI Consulting Canada Inc., Aug. 20, 2026, paras. 14, 27. An offtake arrangement with a North American fertilizer company for the full 146,000 tonnes of annual production carried deadlines to commence production that were extended from 2021 to 2024 and have now been missed; Mr. Mister is aware of no further extensions, per First Affidavit of Timothy Mister, Aug. 20, 2026, para. 23.

Western Potash Corp. is a Saskatchewan company held, through B.C.-incorporated Western Potash Holdings Corp., by Western Resources Corp. of Vancouver, whose majority shareholder is Vantage Chance Limited, a private investment company registered in the British Virgin Islands. The parent's TSX-listed shares have been under a cease trade order since March 4, 2025 for unfiled financial statements, per First Affidavit of Timothy Mister, Aug. 20, 2026, paras. 5–11. The parent itself is not a debtor in these proceedings; the CCAA reaches only WPC, Holdings, and WPC's operating subsidiary 0907414 B.C. Ltd., per Pre-Filing Report of FTI Consulting Canada Inc., Aug. 20, 2026, para. 15.

Two years of defaults, three letters

The Appian facility is dated April 28, 2022: a multiple-draw term loan committing the US dollar equivalent of CDN$85 million, first-ranking security over the assets of borrower and guarantors including the entirety of the Milestone project, interest at 12.5% per annum plus default rates, and principal repayable at approximately US$4.15 million per quarter over sixteen quarters ending March 31, 2028, per First Affidavit of Timothy Mister, Aug. 20, 2026, paras. 35, 39. An Appian affiliate, WPC Royalty Corp., holds a royalty on the mining properties secured by second-ranking debentures, per First Affidavit of Timothy Mister, Aug. 20, 2026, para. 37.

Events of default began on January 31, 2024, when the project missed Interim Operational Completion — the date by which Milestone was to pass a well performance test, a plant throughput test and a plant production rate test, per First Affidavit of Timothy Mister, Aug. 20, 2026, paras. 40–41. Appian's response over the following year is documented in three reservation-of-rights letters. February 9, 2024. April 23, 2024 — by which point the defaults included roughly CDN$3.7 million of non-permitted indebtedness, failure to keep a CDN$5 million minimum cash balance, builders' liens on the project, budget breaches, and three quarters of unpaid interest. January 2025 — adding cessation of business operations, the missed August 31, 2024 deadline for final operational completion, and a failure to pay debts as they fell due, per First Affidavit of Timothy Mister, Aug. 20, 2026, paras. 42–43, 48. Unpaid scheduled interest now totals US$16.8 million, per First Affidavit of Timothy Mister, Aug. 20, 2026, para. 51.

What filled the interval was a procession of financing proposals that never landed: a proposed $80 million third-party subordinate investment in June 2024, a proposed $100 million equity investment in November 2024 — neither materially advanced — and, most recently, the company's advice that discussions with new investors cannot be expected to be executable before the fourth quarter of 2026, if at all. The current equity holders, Mr. Mister deposes, have not offered their own financing solution and have had ample time to do so, per First Affidavit of Timothy Mister, Aug. 20, 2026, paras. 46–47, 57. A structured strategic process run by FTI Capital Advisors Canada ULC — engaged by the company in October 2025 at Appian's suggestion, with targeted outreach to 110 parties — produced no offer acceptable to the company and was terminated on August 14, 2026 at the request of its chief financial officer, per Pre-Filing Report of FTI Consulting Canada Inc., Aug. 20, 2026, paras. 9–12.

The creditors who stopped waiting

Builders hold court judgments claiming in excess of $928,000 for unpaid improvements, and some have obtained authorization to apply for orders for the sale of the borrower's property — the Milestone project included — if their judgments go unpaid for 120 days. The judgments are being obtained uncontested; Appian has received no notice of any defence, per First Affidavit of Timothy Mister, Aug. 20, 2026, para. 27. Bird Construction Group's counsel has written claiming $488,286.24 for project work, per First Affidavit of Timothy Mister, Aug. 20, 2026, para. 28. The Rural Municipality of Lajord No. 128 has gone further than most municipal creditors ever need to: in May 2026 it claimed title to the borrower's real property on the strength of a registered tax lien, with a tax certificate showing $1,066,801.21 owing, per First Affidavit of Timothy Mister, Aug. 20, 2026, para. 30.