Decision time looms for Sirius' potash proposals

“If it is not grown, it is mined,” he says.

It may only be a short line, but it’s one loaded with meaning.

Mr Fraser is managing director and chief executive of Sirius Minerals, the company behind the £2bn York Potash project.

The firm hopes to extract up to 13 million tonnes of the fertiliser polyhalite every year from a mine three miles south of Whitby, which it says will more than 1,000 direct jobs and support thousands more across construction roles.

Mr Fraser says the site will tap into the world’s largest and highest grade polyhalite reserve, standing as the UK’s first potash mine in 40 years.

He also says it will satisfy the world’s growing food needs, by help farmers grow more crops.

That’s where his quote comes in.

A few miles away from Sirius’ Scarborough offices over at Dove’s Nest Farm, off a moor road that winds towards Whitby, a silence falls upon a site accustomed to agricultural activity.

I watch from near the farmhouse as cows graze in a field, enjoying the heat of the beating sun, while opposite, two men are walking through another field to examine the land.

It’s the endeavours of the latter that are more important.

Sirius bought the farm in 2013, and it forms the very nucleus of where the proposed York Potash mine shafts and production buildings will sit.

From food to mining, and, through the associated fertiliser, back to food again.

Or, to paraphrase Mr Fraser, growing and mining.

Sirius wants to cultivate something new here.

Mounds of land shield test sites from view.

Behind the stacked earth and accompanying security gate, concrete bases act as evidence of the previous work done to gauge the depths and quality of polyhalite, which is situated 1,500 metres below the surface.

The findings of that analysis make for interesting reading, as do Sirius’ wider claims over the project’s benefits.

The company says it has a defined store of 2.66 billion tonnes of the fertiliser from just seven per cent of its project area of interest.

Allied to the striking job numbers, it also says it will make a £1.1bn annual contribution to UK GDP, and increase the size of the North Yorkshire economy by up to ten per cent, more than supplementing the area’s strong reliance on tourism.

The headline figures also point to annual exports of £1.2bn, and tax contributions of £234m a year.

Its York Potash Foundation, set up share the profits of the work in the local area, expects to pay up to £6m annually to help its ambitions of improving skills and education in the area.

The numbers are impressive.

However, it would be remiss to overlook the fact the development hasn’t captured everyone’s imagination.

There have been dissenting voices, more vociferous that others, which have focused on the potential aesthetical impact the mine will have on the moorland.

Later this month, the North York Moors National Park Authority will make a decision on the proposals, which, in the affirmative, will give Sirius the necessary leverage it needs to start work and put years of planning into action.

On the subject of the scheme’s critics, Mr Fraser is clear on the worries presented and how they will be nullified.

He admits construction will deliver a change to the look of the landscape, but says such amendments will disappear when the mine starts production.

He said: “People have forgotten about mining, it is what made Great Britain great.

“If it is not grown, it is mined.

“That is the reality.

“We are mining something that grows food, which is multi-nutritional and offers more crop yield.

“This is a unique opportunity to access the world’s largest and highest grade polyhalite resource.

“We are extremely mindful of the location beneath the North York Moors National Park and take our responsibility for minimising the potential impact on the area very seriously.

“We will have to set up temporary structures during the build and there will be a few more trucks on the road.

“But, for every six trucks that are already on the road in and around Whitby, we will put an extra one there.

“Getting to this stage, we have spent approximately £125m.

“A lot of that is drilling the resource, the engineering, environmental studies and crop studies.

“We have done the consultation right; the public support is there and it is widespread.

“People in the area understand this; farmers understand fertiliser and people are seeing a need for change over employment levels.

“This will benefit the region and the economy and it is permanent.”

Sirius’ plans focus on extracting the polyhalite from its mine shafts before transporting it underground via a conveyor belt through a tunnel to a proposed handling site at Wilton, near Redcar, for granulation, storage and distribution.

A decision on an adjoining harbour, earmarked for Bran Sands, on the mouth of the River Tees, to load ships, is expected in summer 2016.

The plans to go underground, says Mr Fraser, means there is no need for huge, unsightly towers, a fact which seemingly chimed with Redcar and Cleveland Council officials when they approved the mine and the transport system earlier this year.

“The council decision was a good result for us, we were really happy with that, and we hope the park can be the same, but they have to look at their policies”, he said.

“We have done everything we think we can to minimise the impact of construction work.

“The people in the local area will know it is there, but for those out of the region, to know it was there you would have to stand in the site or have a helicopter to see it.

“Conveyors are a common thing in the mining industry, but using what we have is a little bit different and it also means we can manage it better; there are no external factors or weather impacts.

“The US and Canadian companies talk about how big their towers are, but the benefit of what we are trying to do is that we do not need towers.

“We will have the temporary structures and need them to build the mine, but then they are gone.

“The tunnel means we are not on the road with trucks or using trains to take the polyhalite away, it is underground.”

When operating at full capacity, Sirius says it will have 725 people working directly at the mine.

Those employees will cover four shifts, with about 175, mostly underground, at a time.

It already has around 60 people on board, with half originally from the local area, and the rest now living here.

Mr Fraser says it is committed to getting more local workers in to strengthen the talent pool.

He said: “What this project will do is open opportunities for kids in the area to have well-paid and challenging careers.

“They can see something like this is happening and see this is a viable industry.

“A local workforce is the best workforce for any project because they know the area.

“For those in university, who are having to make the decision on a career path, to know that there is an engineering career where they can stay in the area is very big.

“There are 1,000 long-term, well-paid jobs that are not tied to tourism.

“We are doing something real; this is tangible.

“Can you imagine the amount of supermarkets you will need to build the local economy up by ten per cent?”

Sirius already has a number of agreements with international companies to supply polyhalite, with total sales commitments standing at more than six million tonnes a year.

They include Sinoagri, one of China’s largest fertiliser distributors, which is set to receive 500,000 tonnes every year in a ten-year partnership.

If Sirius’ plans are granted, the North Yorkshire mine will supply to a market already containing ICL Fertilizers, which runs a site up the coast road at Boulby, in east Cleveland.

That company, known by many under its Cleveland Potash name, produces more than a million tonnes of potash for fertilisers and more than half a million tonnes of salt every year.

It previously announced it will invest £38m, backed by a significant slice of Government Regional Growth cash, to support a project extracting polyhalite.

Bosses hope to be producing up to 600,000 tonnes annually by 2018, armed by research claiming potential deposits of more than one billion tonnes could lie under the potash it already mines.

They also told The Northern Echo the work will be complemented by a near £50m plant to turn fine polyhalite into granules for agricultural use.

ICL has not been shy in objecting to Sirius’ plans, claiming the York Potash work could cause a regional skills shortage, halt its expansion and cause it to be blamed for underground subsidence.

You might expect Mr Fraser to come out fighting against such statements, but his response is measured, saying ICL’s polyhalite focus will actually be beneficial to Sirius.

He also touched on opportunities for the pair to work together, on areas such as skills and training.

He added: “For them to be out there selling and marketing polyhalite is good.

“For the next four to five years, the market is being seeded by them, which is good for us and good the UK.

“Farmers are very cautious; they will start looking at something in one field, then two and build from there.

“You can only go so far on samples; people want to test things and want to see it in the real world.

“We know we are going to have a lot of advantages; our mine is being built to produce polyhalite, ICL’s is an add-on.

“At full production, we will produce 13 million tonnes of polyhalite a year, making us one of the most significant large-scale suppliers of multi-nutrient fertiliser.

“Competition is good; there are opportunities for us to work together, and the market is more than big enough for the both of us.”

BLOB The North York Moors National Park Authority is due to make a decision on Sirius’ planning application on Tuesday, June 30.

Planning officers previously issued an open recommendation, meaning members will not be given guidance on how to vote on the plans.

WHAT IS POLYHALITE AND WHY IS IT NEEDED?

A type of potash, polyhalite is an essential ingredient in plant fertiliser.

It contains four of the six nutrients plants need to grow: potassium, magnesium, sulphur and calcium.

Polyhalite is seen as key to playing a major role in securing global food security, with the growing population placing greater need for food production.