Developers of York Potash Project reach end of ‘intense process’
THE developers of the York Potash Project say they have reached the end of “an intense process” as they continue to press ahead with planning applications for the site.
Sirius Minerals has now completed the work for two of the major planning approval submissions, and the chairman Russell Scrimshaw gave a cautiously optimistic assessment following the consultation process.
Mr Scrimshaw said: “An extraordinary level of effort went into preparing the application documents across the engineering, planning policy and environmental work streams in order to ensure that the submissions were as robust and compelling as possible. In particular, our work has been focussed to address areas of concern previously raised by stakeholders in this planning process.
“The planning submission timeframe we had announced was met at the end of September. The team knows that there is still ongoing work to be done with the key statutory bodies to clarify any areas of concern. The determination of such applications is often complex and time consuming, but the level of pre-application engagement with the local authorities and others has given a good backdrop to the process.”
The Whitby site has the world’s largest and highest grade deposit of polyhalite, a multi-nutrient form of potash containing potassium, sulphur, magnesium and calcium.
Sirius said it continues to make progress with sales contracts, buoyed by the potential scale of production of the site, and has sales commitments for more than 5m tonnes a year.
The AIM-listed company also published its financial results for the six months to September 30, which showed a loss of £6.7m, with cash resources of £27.4m.
The period has seen changes to its management team, with Rachel Rhodes arriving as chief finance officer and Thomas Staley appointed as corporate development director, to boost the management team through the approvals, funding and construction phases.
