PotashCorp announced on Wednesday the temporary lay off of an unspecified number of employees from two of the company’s Saskatchewan mines which employ 875 people.

News of the lay off came on the heels of a profit warning announced by PotashCorp earlier Wednesday morning.

Earnings for the 2012 financial year will fall below even the lowest previous estimate of $2.80 to $3.20 per share, the company stated in a release.

“The announcement this morning is just a short term fourth quarter issue for us,” said PotashCorp President and CEO Bill Doyle at the White Buffalo Youth Lodge shortly before the lay off was announced.

Doyle, who attended a ceremony marking PotashCorp’s $200,000 donation to the Lodge’s newly renovated kitchen, explained that contracts with foreign purchasers would normally be signed by this time of year. Doyle, however, predicted 2013 as “being a very strong recovery year.”

He said a slowdown in PotashCorp’s shipments to Chinese and Indian clients between now and the end of 2012 accounted for the lower than expected earnings.

The corporation says its mine in Rocanville will not operate between Dec. 2 and Jan. 12.

And its mine in Lanigan will not operate between Nov. 18 and Jan. 12.

The notice comes only days after some workers at the mine in Lanigan returned to work after a month-long layoff.

A spokesman for the Saskatoon-based company says it’s not yet clear how many workers will be affected by the eight-week layoff.