Serving the Teesside Business Community | 45
Artist’s impression of the Sirius Minerals
harbour facility on Teesside, a key part of
the £2 billion project.
READY
TO MINE
Sirius potash
project will
create 1,000 jobs
W
ork is set to get underway early in
2017 on the UK’s biggest potash
mine with the potential to create
more than 1,000 jobs between facilities at
Whitby and Teesside.
Sirius Minerals is set to build the £1.7
billion potash mine near Whitby together with
a processing facility at Wilton, near Redcar.
The mine, which sits on the moorland
overlooking Whitby and Robin Hood’s Bay,
aims to produce up to 20 million tonnes
a year of a potassium-rich mineral called
polyhalite, a type of potash fertiliser
described by Sirius as a “fertiliser of the
future”.
The project, which was given the go-ahead
after a protracted planning battle, received
a major boost when Sirius Minerals, the
company behind the mine, announced a
$300m deal with Australian agricultural firm
Hancock Prospecting.
Hancock is owned by Australia’s richest
woman Gina Rinehart.
Under the deal, Rinehart will purchase
$50m of Sirius shares and pay $250m for a
5% royalty stream on the first 13m tonnes of
fertiliser produced by the mine annually, and
the right to purchase up to 20,000 tonnes of
product each year for use on her expanding
Australian agricultural holdings.
Ms Rinehart said: “Sirius has a large, high
quality mineral resource and is located in a
stable jurisdiction with a competitive tax rate.
“The project has the potential to become
one of the world’s leading producers of multi-
Chris Fraser of Sirius at the site of
the polyhalite mine near Whitby.
nutrient fertiliser, and could have a life of 100
years. This fits with my approach of investing
in strategic areas for the long term.”
Chris Fraser, managing director and chief
executive of Sirius, said: “We are delighted
to have signed this agreement with such an
experienced party in the mining industry,
as well as one that has very successful
and strong leadership and a long term and
growing agricultural interest.”
The royalty agreement will run for at least
70 years.
Sirius has now put in place a £1 billion
finance plan to ignite construction in
earnest. The funding will see the issuing
of new shares to raise up to £400 million
and convertible bonds to bring in a further
£350 million. The government has also held
discussions with potential Chinese investors
in the project.
Once at full production, the giant project is
expected to employ more than 1,000 people
- with hundreds or possibly thousands more
jobs created indirectly.
All mined polyhalite will be transported
underground on a 23-mile conveyor belt
running underneath the North York Moors
national park to a handling facility in Teesside.
The materials handling facility at Wilton
will consist of the plant and equipment
necessary to granulate the polyhalite and
create the final product.
Although work is yet to start on the mine
near Whitby, the deal is a further boost for
the project, which received approval for its
harbour facilities at Teesport in July.
All major approvals for the project have
now been granted.
In June, Sirius Minerals told investors that
the estimated cost of construction had fallen
18%, from £2.7bn to £2.2bn.