York Potash mine chooses key contractors

'‹Sirius Minerals, the company behind the £10bn York Potash mine, has announced the contractors '‹for key components of its North Yorkshire potash project'‹.
The Red Arrows flying over Sirius Minerals exploration drilling rig at its North Yorkshire polyhalite project.The Red Arrows flying over Sirius Minerals exploration drilling rig at its North Yorkshire polyhalite project.
The Red Arrows flying over Sirius Minerals exploration drilling rig at its North Yorkshire polyhalite project.

AMC UK'‹, '‹a joint venture between Thyssen Group and Redpath Group'‹, '‹'‹has been '‹selected as preferred contractor for mine site development'‹ and '‹Hochtief Murphy '‹Joint '‹V'‹enture '‹has been '‹selected as preferred contractor for'‹'‹ mineral transport system development'‹.'‹'‹Sirius CEO Chris Fraser said: "This is the culmination of a huge amount of work by both the successful bidders and those that have been unsuccessful and we thank all of the groups involved for their efforts. We are delighted to now be moving forward with our selected partners towards the implementation of the project."The tendering process has been underway since October 2014 and '‹has '‹run in parallel with the Definitive Feasibility Study'‹. '‹Sirius said that during the preparation of these tenders a significant amount of engineering and estimation has been undertaken. AMC '‹UK '‹'‹will be responsible for'‹ mine site development work'‹, which includes all of the shaft construction at the mine site and the shaft construction of the mineral transport system. '‹Sirius said t'‹his contract is a critical component of the '‹project.AMC UK is a joint venture company formed between Thyssen Schachtbau of Germany and Thyssen Mining Construction of Canada, both members of the Thyssen Group, and JS Redpath of Canada and Deilmann-Haniel, both members of the Redpath Group. '‹Sirius said '‹AMC '‹UK '‹is a recognised leader in shaft sinking both around the world and in the potash sector. It is currently constructing the K3 shafts in Canada for Mosaic, two shafts for the Ust Jaiwa Project for Uralkali in Russia and completed the Scissors Creek shaft at Rocanville in Canada for PCS last year.Hochtief Murphy Joint Venture'‹ '‹(HMJV) has been selected as the preferred contractor for the '‹'‹mineral transport system development. HMJV is a joint venture between Hochtief (UK) Construction and J. Murphy & Sons. HMJV has been constructing major projects and infrastructure in the UK since 2001. Most recently it completed the'‹ '‹Â£250m C310 Thames Tunnel as part of the Crossrail scheme in London.Sirius, which has been given planning permission for the potash mine, said the mine will employ over 1,000 long term workers at full production and a further 1,500 workers will be employed indirectly.It said the '‹York Potash project will deliver a huge boost to North Yorkshire and Teesside and will have a value of over £10bn, rising to £19bn when production starts.It said that at full production, the mine's annual contribution to UK GDP would be £2.3bn, with £2.5bn of exports helping to decrease the 2015 balance of trade deficit by seven per cent.'‹The mine will produce 20 million tonnes of potash a year and production is scheduled to start in 2021.'‹