Delay for York Potash plans

A PLANNING decision on whether the York Potash mining project can go ahead is to be delayed at the request of the company behind the project.

Sirius Minerals this afternoon said the North York Moors National Park Authority has agreed to defer the determination of its York Potash onshore mining application, which was due to be considered by its planning committee of the Authority on July 29.

The company said the move was aimed an ensuring that it has the time to address all outstanding environmental queries about its plans for the major mine in an area of the national park near Whitby.

It said the decision is specifically to allow it time to address issues relating to European habitat legislation and “robustly deal with the questions over the work completed by consultants on the environmental assessments”.

Sirius said that it intends to agree a detailed schedule of meetings with the authority and other key stakeholders to ensure any remaining issues are “worked through thoroughly”.

Updates on timing implications will be provided after further discussions with the Authority and company consultants have been held.

Chris Fraser, managing director and CEO of Sirius, commented: “It’s right that some extra time is taken to enable a robust decision to be made by the National Park members.  We will continue to work collaboratively with the Authority, its consultants and all the key statutory agencies to address the issues that have been raised.  The company has a current cash balance of £10 million and with the drilling programme coming to an end we are well placed from a funding perspective.”