Sirius Minerals Plc has announced that it has received UK government approval for the Harbour Facilities element of its North Yorkshire polyhalite project. As a result, all major approvals for the Project, which includes the construction of a 37km long, 6m diameter mineral transport tunnel system, have now been granted.
The Company has been informed by the Department for Transport that the Secretary of State has approved its Development Consent Order (“DCO”) for the Harbour Facilities at Teesside. This includes the new berth, ship loading facilities and the conveyor linkage to the Company’s materials handling facility at the Wilton International site. The DCO includes all the compulsory purchase powers needed to develop the Harbour Facilities.
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Chris Fraser Managing Director and CEO said:
“We’re delighted to have secured this final approval for the Project and would like to thank everyone who has contributed towards the positive determinations of all of the planning applications and the DCO application.
“Our team is currently actively engaged in the financing phase of the Project and I look forward to providing further updates in due course. We are closer than ever to delivering this world-class Project.”
Last month Sirius Minerals announced The Hochtief Murphy Joint Venture as preferred contractor for the tunnelling works. The scope of work is currently for the design and build of the MTS tunnel to link the mine with the materials handling facility at Teesside. The MTS will run at depths of 120m to 360m and will be constructed using a combination of TBM and conventional mining equipment. It will contain a series of in-line conveyors capable of transporting at least 12M tonnes per annum of polyhalite and will be bored in five approx 7.5km long drives from 5 access shafts.
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