BOSSES behind plans to build a £1.5bn mine that could create 1,000 jobs have visited Australia to push its bid.

Members of Sirius Minerals’ York Potash team headed to Sydney for the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) annual conference.

The event is one of the world’s largest for the fertiliser community, attracting about 400 companies from 75 countries.

Bosses say the visit was part of the firm’s discussions with customers around the world.

Sirius wants to extract million of tonnes of polyhalite, a form of the fertiliser potash, from under the North York Moors National Park in its York Potash project.

Luke Jarvis, international sales manager, said: “The conference is a major platform for the global fertiliser industry and is another example of how we are leading the way in marketing polyhalite around the world.

“It is always such a privilege to be flying the flag for such an important project and agricultural product.”

Sirius already has agreements to send millions of tonnes of polyhalite to companies in China, Latin America, the US and Africa.

It hopes to submit the plans for the mine, near Whitby, in July.