York Potash applies for marine licence

YORK Potash, which hopes to create a £2bn potash mine in the North York Moors National Park, has submitted an application for a marine licence in order to extract potash minerals from beneath the seabed.

By The Newsroom

Published 16th Aug 2012, 10:06 BST

The group’s parent company Sirius Minerals said the potash lies within its offshore project area. It added that the potash minerals lie in seams below the seabed and will be accessed via tunnels from onshore.

York Potash said the submission is only implementable if a forthcoming onshore application results in the granting of planning permission.

Chris Fraser, managing director and chief executive of Sirius, said: “This is an important licence that the project will require in the long term. In parallel with this being determined, we continue to work up the detailed onshore application which will be preceded by extensive public consultation in the coming months.”

Sirius Minerals said the mine will create up to 5,000 jobs and will be the first operation of its kind in the UK for nearly 40 years.