More than 300 jobs at risk at potash mine
MORE than 350 jobs at the Boulby Potash mine are at risk as owners ICL aim to cease production of potash in the UK by 2018.
220 workers and a further 140 contractors are set to be made redundant.
The Israeli firm said that further job cuts should be expected in the “painful” move at the North York Moors National Park site.
The plant, which employs around 1,100 people, will produce another fertiliser called Polysulphate, of which ICL is the world’s sole producer and of which the company said there is estimated to be approximately 200 million tonnes of resources.
ICL intends to invest £40m to upgrade ICL UK’s mining infrastructure to produce Polysulphate and is looking at an additional investment of £40m to build a granulation facility specifically for Polysulphate.
The company expects to double its operating income at ICL UK by 2020 based on current prices.
Peter Smith, executive vice President-Potash of ICL, said: “In recent months we encountered geological problems which have affected previously high-yielding areas of the mine.”
For the third quarter of 2015, sales at ICL totalled $1.38bn, compared with $1.56bn in the year before, a decrease of 11.6%. The decrease was primarily related to sale of non-core businesses.
