They seem to be very optamistic about the ammount of money to be made from the venture

The sharp rise`s in Fertilizer prices in the last few years.

More on this today:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-13539281 

Landowners on the North York Moors are being urged to lease mineral rights to a company planning to develop one of the world's biggest potash mines.

Sirius Minerals wants to mine potash, a potassium compound used in fertilisers, between Scarborough and Whitby.

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The BBC go on about this proposal to mine in the Yorskshire moors as though there was no where else that mines potash in the UK.

This mine in Russia looks good, I 've not seen a dual rotating cutter like that one before,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11654179 

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With he likely cost of development, I still reckon cleveland potash will end up buying the rights and expanding Boulby. When I was at Boulby in 1999 we were looking at sinking down to a seam at 2200m

I reckon that Cleveland Potash have enough on their plate with the 3D offshore seismic survey they ran close to the coast off Staithes and Runswick a few months ago.

I must admit I'm surprised that Sirius (York Potash) are core sampling instead of running seismics over the prospect - IMO, a wide grid of 2D lines would be a much better initial exploration strategy. Vibroseis surveys are a lot less destructive, too. Maybe they are working on the basis of the Rees Geophysical survey data recorded on the moors in the seventies - although they were looking for gas at the time.

Cheers
Douglas (ex Senior Exploration Geophysicist and now back in the real world) 🙂

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-19461831 

Location confirmed:

A company wanting to exploit potash deposits in North Yorkshire has confirmed its mine will be in the North York Moors National Park.

Sirius Minerals said its preferred location for the mine was a site three miles (4.8km) south of Whitby on the B1416.

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York Potash will now conduct a detailed local consultation on its plans ahead of submitting a full planning application by the end of 2012.

York Potash public exhibition programme

Thurs 13 September 12 noon – 7.30pm Sneaton Village Hall, Sneaton, Whitby YO22 5HP

Friday 14 September 12 noon – 7.30pm Sleights Village Hall, Coach Road, Sleights YO22 5BT

Saturday 15 September 10am – 4pm Pannett Park Art Gallery & Whitby Museum Pannett Park, Whitby YO21 1RE

Thursday 20 September 12 noon – 7.30pm Hawsker & Stainsacre Parish Hall, Mill Lane, Low Hawsker YO22 4LT

Friday 21 September 12 noon – 7.30pm Fylingdales Village Hall, Robin Hood’s Bay, Whitby YO22 4QN

Saturday 22 September 10am – 4pm Pannett Park Art Gallery & Whitby Museum Pannett Park, Whitby YO21 1RE

Thursday 27 September 12 noon – 7.30pm St Mary’s Church & Community Hall, Cloughton High Street, Scarborough YO13 0AE

Friday 28 September 12 noon – 6.00pm Town Hall, St Nicholas Street, Scarborough YO11 2HG

Cool. An underground tunnel to Teeside.

York Potash will now conduct a detailed local consultation on its plans ahead of submitting a full planning application by the end of 2012.

York Potash public exhibition programme

Did anyone local get to any of these?

Cool. An underground tunnel to Teeside.

I suppose if you are going there, it's best not to be seen 😉 😉

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Cool. An underground tunnel to Teeside.

I suppose if you are going there, it's best not to be seen 😉 ;D

Where is this river Tee?

Where is this river Tee?

Runs through Middlesborough silly.

Shouldn't that be Middleborough? ::)

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Im losing track of who's joking and who's just wrong :lol:

Middlesbrough is on Teesside, i'm fairly famuilair with it because i'm looking out of my window at them both.

Where is this river Tee?

Bloody local pedants.

Chris.

Yeah maybe but not really, it goes a bit deeper than mere pedantry. The spelling Teeside is a common bugbear of people in the area as its used a lot by companies and agencies who should be employing people bright enough to know the spelling of one of northern England's great rivers.

It is comical the number of big companies that get it wrong.

http://www.europcar.co.uk/car-hire-UNITED_KINGDOM-TEESIDE.html 

http://www.murphygroup.co.uk/MarketSectors/ProcessEnergyPipelines/default.asp?id=206 

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/come-dine-with-me/episode-guide/series-10/episode-2 

In the news today, first major offtake contract agreed, 1 million tons per annum to China, for 10 years, starting 2017.

http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/sirius-minerals/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=485&newsid=350194 

I saw the information as well, but the question is, as with most major new mines, will the amount of development money be forthcoming?
According to the Times they need $1.7 billion to start it up?

Last I saw from Sirius's estimates is that it would cost $4.5bn to complete the first phase and another $3bn for the second phase.

Will the development money come? Probably, this is a massive scale seam (amongst the largest in the world, if not THE largest), which is up to 95m thick. The project team are experts in mining this seam, with most having key associations with Boulby in the past, although a big ticket venture, this is a relatively small risk project.

From reading a report from Boulby,regarding this venture,the polyhalitite,even though its a thick seam,is an inferior product to the muriate of potash that Boulby mine,hence as a fertilizer will need a much larger amount spread on the land.