Sirius Minerals’ shares plunge following planning delay

SIRIUS Minerals saw its shares fall to their lowest value for almost two years and £30m was wiped off the value of the company after it announced a delay of up to year in seeking planning approval for the York Potash mine near Whitby.

The company’s share price closed at 9.82p, down almost 20%, on the London Stock Exchange last night, leaving it with a market capitalisation of £135m.

Sirius said yesterday it has taken a “new approach” to the approvals process and it will submit updated plans for the development next summer.

A planning decision on whether the York Potash mining project can go ahead was delayed, at the request of Sirius in July, when the North York Moors National Park Authority 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 additional information for the mine application will be submitted for determination by the NYMNPA in July 2014 once further work has been carried out to enable a full cumulative assessment of the mine with the other areas of the project.

“The submission of applications for the remaining three project areas to the appropriate authorities will follow shortly thereafter. The revised approach better reflects the wishes of a number of the decision making authorities and key statutory consultees,” the company said.

Yesterday, Chris Fraser, managing director and CEO of Sirius, said: “Further, extensive work on the port and materials handling facilities has helped to de-risk the project, but it has also generated more information that needs to be assessed in conjunction with the other applications. As a result this new approach will reassure the decision making bodies that sufficient information is available on each element needed to deliver the whole project.”

He added that the company remains “very encouraged” by the growing level of interest in the project from major industry players.

Mr Fraser said this was underpinned by strong crop trial results to date, a huge resource base and low projected operating and capital costs relative to the rest of the industry.

“Our confidence in the development of the York Potash project as a world class fertilizer asset continues to strengthen.”

The firm claims the mine could create more than 1,000 jobs and a further 4,000 jobs in the wider economy.