Big week for Sirius Minerals

Sirius Minerals has had its best week in a while following a string of positive announcements, although an answer to the big question and possible deal-maker/breaker could still be six months away.

Plans for a 36.5 kilometre tunnel will be submitted to the North York Moors National Park Authority and Cleveland Borough Council any day now. We'll hear what they think about both the mine and transport tunnel early next year.

Nevertheless, recent updates are helpful. Crop trials using POLY4 - created from polyhalite, a potash mineral found at the company's huge potash deposit in North Yorkshire, the largest and highest-grade polyhalite deposit in the world - have been hugely positive.

It improved cabbage yield and growth, outperforming premium potassium fertilizer, SOP, in yield by 7% and traditional MOP fertilizer by 105%. That must interest the $17 billion-a-year (£10.4 billion) global cabbage market.

In addition, a memorandum of understanding with state-owned Tanzania Fertilizer Company paves the way for an offtake agreement to supply up to 500,000 tonnes of polyhalite every year.

And, crucially, boss Chris Fraser has picked a top number cruncher to watch the pennies as Sirius navigates its way toward first production, hopefully by 2018/19, subject to funding. Rachel Rhodes has worked at Anglo American, and was finance chief at London Mining until she upped sticks last November.

"Rachel is bringing a wealth of valuable experience and insights gained through involvement in projects and companies that have already been through the different phases that a project like York Potash is undertaking," said Fraser.

For the record, WH Ireland still thinks Sirius could be worth 37p given time. Right now they're back at 14p, a level they've failed to breach since February.

This article is for information and discussion purposes only and does not form a recommendation to invest or otherwise. The value of an investment may fall. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.