{"id":1149316,"date":"2019-11-12T08:49:20","date_gmt":"2019-11-12T14:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1006537"},"modified":"2019-11-12T08:49:20","modified_gmt":"2019-11-12T14:49:20","slug":"sirius-minerals-unveils-rescue-plan-for-uks-biggest-fertilizer-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1149316","title":{"rendered":"Sirius Minerals unveils rescue plan for UK\u2019s biggest fertilizer mine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sirius Minerals (LON:SXX), the British company building a huge fertilizer mine beneath a national park, is seeking a strategic investor to help fund a <a href=\"https:\/\/otp.tools.investis.com\/clients\/uk\/sirius_minerals\/rns\/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=485&amp;newsid=1344049&amp;culture=en-GB\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">revised two-stage development plan<\/a> for its Woodsmith project.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The company was forced to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/sirius-minerals-shares-crash-after-scrapping-500m-fundraising-plan\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">abandon a $500-million fundraising attempt<\/a> in September, which it needed to unlock a $2.5-billion debt package&nbsp;from JP Morgan hat would have financed the mine\u2019s second phase of construction.<\/p>\n<p>Sirius is now focusing on securing $600 million to finish sinking shafts to access deposit of polyhalite,&nbsp;a form of potash used as crops fertilizer.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Sirius is seeking $600 million to finish sinking shafts and access the world&#8217;s largest deposit of polyhalite, a type of potash used as crops fertilizer.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Once that phase is complete, the miner will seek to raise the remaining $1.9 billion needed to finish construction of the mine from banks and infrastructure funds. If the plan is successful, Sirius says it will be producing 13 million tonnes of polyhalite a year by the third quarter of 2026.<\/p>\n<p>The company has also identified<br \/>\nalmost $370 million of cost savings by reconfiguring tunnelling and processing<br \/>\nplans.<\/p>\n<p>Director and chief executive, Chris<br \/>\nFraser, said the new strategy would help de-risk the project and mean less<br \/>\ndilution for shareholders, including thousands of local retail investors who<br \/>\nhave backed the company.<\/p>\n<p>Analysts have speculated that<br \/>\nSirius could bring a major mining company on board, a sovereign wealth fund \u2013<br \/>\nit already has backing from Qatari and Norwegian funds \u2013 or even a private<br \/>\nequity firm.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The revised plan d<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/sirius-seeks-2bn-in-government-backed-debt-for-britains-biggest-fertilizer-mine\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"oes not need any state backing (opens in a new tab)\">oes not need any state backing<\/a> at this stage, though&nbsp;the company would not refuse government support.<\/p>\n<p>Since late August work on the<br \/>\nproject has slowed right down, with about 300 jobs axed, and it is understood<br \/>\nthat contracts won\u2019t be renewed once contractors complete their current tasks.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Construction of Woodsmith, the largest mine to be built in the UK for a generation, involves sinking two 1.5km shafts below a national park on the North York Moors. It\u2019s expected to create about 1,800 jobs during construction, as well as 1,000 permanent positions once it opens.<\/p>\n<p>The ore will be extracted via the<br \/>\ntwo mine shafts and transported to Teesside on the world\u2019s longest underground<br \/>\nconveyor belt, via a 37km-underground tunnel. It will then be granulated at a<br \/>\nmaterials handling facility, with the majority being exported to overseas<br \/>\nmarkets.<\/p>\n<p>Sirius Minerals <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/sirius-inks-fertilizer-supply-deal-with-qatars-muntajat-amid-moors-project-worries\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">said in October<\/a> it would attempt earlier sales of polyhalite than first anticipated, which would demonstrate cashflow to lenders and could be used to lever cheaper rates of borrowing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Miner will try raising $600m first, which will allow it to finish sinking shafts and access the world&#8217;s largest deposit of polyhalite, a type of fertilizer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2849,949,369],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149316"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1149316"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1149373,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149316\/revisions\/1149373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1149316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1149316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1149316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}