Changes in pipeline over potash mine plan

York Potash announced yesterday it will replace a previous pipeline scheme for carrying polyhalite between the mine earmarked for farmland in the North York Moors National Park and port operations in Teesside with the underground mineral transport system.

York Potash announced last year the scheme had been delayed to ensure environmental information for the project – including the proposed mine, pipeline, materials-handling plant and port – was available at the same time.

Chris Fraser, the managing director of York Potash’s parent company, Sirius Minerals, said: “The mineral transport system will use proven mining technology, minimising our impact at the surface and completely removing the need for any construction in designated and protected habitats while also reducing the number of buildings at our mine site.”

Concerns had been voiced over initial plans to transport potash, a key component of fertiliser, through some of Britain’s most sensitive protected environments.

York Potash, which is hoping to exploit one of the world’s most extensive seams of the mineral, had admitted the route ran across or near four Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). The mineral transport system is expected to remove direct construction from sites including SSSIs and protected moorlands.

The mine has been heralded as vital for the economy, but the project has been beset by delays.

Sirius Minerals is due to submit a new planning application to the park authority later this year.