LONDON (Alliance News) - The North York Moors National Park Authority late Tuesday gave the green light for Sirius Minerals PLC to build the world's largest potash mine in the Yorkshire park near Whitby.
Sirius Minerals shares resumed trading Wednesday after the Park Authority held a special committee meeting Tuesday to deliberate on Sirius's application to build a potash mine under the North York Moors National Park, which has now been approved.
The mine will be the first new potash mine in the UK for 40 years, and the largest potash mine in the world, with a scope to produce around 13 million tonnes per year to be constructed over two phases. Potash is used primarily for agricultural fertiliser.
The first phase is designed to provide a 6.5 million tonne operation with the ability to be expanded to 13 million tonnes per annum over a period of years. At full production the mine will bring an annual contribution to the UK GDP of over GBP1.0 billion, according to Sirius.
On Tuesday, the Park Authority said: "Today?s decision is the culmination of hard work, of thorough examination and in-depth discussions of the largest planning application this National Park, and indeed any English National Park, has had to consider."
"Members acknowledged the considerable harm a development the size of the proposed mine will have on the special qualities of the North York Moors, particularly during the construction phase. They felt however that the projected long-term economic and social benefits to some of the most deprived parts of the region outweighed these concerns and provided the truly exceptional circumstances required by national planning policy to grant approval to a major development within a National Park," it added.
On Wednesday, Sirius Minerals said the approval is a "major step forward" and the company will release a "full status update" on the next steps for the mine next week.
"This is really just the beginning for the company - we have made a major step forward and now have a pathway to reaching production and unlocking ever more value for our shareholders," said Sirius Managing Director and Chief Executive Chris Fraser.
The new mine is set to create 1,000 jobs and bring revenue benefits "at a national level". Resources to compensate for the harmful impacts of the development will be paid by the company over 100 years.
"The funding will be used for a variety of projects including tree planting and increased promotion of the wider North York Moors to potential visitors. The long-term impacts of these would be of huge benefit to the biodiversity of the Park," said the Park Authority.
"The case for the project has always been compelling because it will not only generate so many jobs and economic benefits, but also because it is accompanied by such extensive mitigations, safeguards and environmentally sensitive design. We now look forward to delivering it," said Fraser Wednesday.
The green light came after the planning committee had made no recommendation for the project earlier in June, after planning officers concluded that they did not believe the development represented exceptional circumstances and that the economic benefits and mitigation/compensation did not outweigh the harm caused. However, the officers also acknowledged the high level of mitigations, the significance of the economic and social benefits which could attain national significance, and the very strong local support.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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