Sirius Minerals moves mine process along

Getting approvals for Sirius Minerals' ambitious potash mine near Whitby on North Yorkshire was never going to be straightforward. And so it has proved. After various delays and changes in the process, Sirius shares are trading at their lowest since November 2013. Now, at least, there has been progress.

Sirius said on Wednesday it has submitted the Supplementary Environmental Information for its mine, mineral transport system and materials handling facilities to the relevant local authorities. The information will be up on its website soon.

"The company is not expecting to have to provide any further substantive information to the authorities and looks forward to the determination of the applications in the near future," it said in a brief statement. "No confirmed dates have been provided yet by either authority, but the market will be updated when these are known."

Last month, Sirius said determination of the application at a planning committee meeting had been pushed back to May, four months later than expected. Then, just days later, the company pulled its application for Harbour facilities at Teesside.

Sirius said it had decided to withdraw its current application for a development consent order so that it could refine certain options in the application. Hopefully, this should speed up the examination by the authorities, it said.

The applications were originally re-submitted, after the first try was refused, in September 2014. The wannabe miner then had to clarify some aspects of its mine and mineral transport system application, and the authorities' approval timeframe was subsequently been doubled to eight months.

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