2nd Mar 2015 10:25
LONDON (Alliance News) - Sirius Minerals PLC Monday said it had got encouraging results from crop studies on corn and rice that showed the effectiveness of the polyhalite product it hopes to produce from the York Potash project.
The company is primarily focused on developing a potash mine near York, and is trying to get planning permission for the site.
In the meantime, it is conducting a global crop trial using the product it hopes to produce - polyhalite powder and granulated product - to prove it is an effective yield enhancer for cereal, vegetable and animal feed crops.
Last year, it had said POLY4 proved to be an effective and valuable fertiliser based on yield and quality performance on major crops such as corn, cotton, oilseed rape and wheat. In also got "an outstanding set of results" in a trial on tomatoes, and said POLY4 could increase cabbage yields after a trial in which it outperformed an existing potash fertiliser and a potassium alternative.
Last month it also reported encouraging results from silage corn trials at the University of Warwick in the UK showed a 52% increase in nitrate use efficiency, and a 44% greater potassium uptake over muriate of potash, leading to a 38% increase in dry matter yield over muriate.
On Monday, it said results from a completed corn study at the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Science and a rice study undertaken with Nanjing Institute of Soil Science showed that polyhalite increased plant yields and vitality compared with using muriate of potash.
The corn study compared muriate of potash with polyhalite as the potassium source and measured the above ground corn biomass, plant height, cob height and resistance to disease. The study revealed a decrease of 14% of yellow leaves, and an increase of healthy green leaves by 8%, Sirius said.
The rice study also compared muriate against polyhalite as the potassium, but also measured the percentages of individual nutrient uptake for both the macro- and micro-nutrients. Polyhalite supported a 4% yield premium at recommended 90 kilogramme K2O/hectare over muriate and increased nutrient uptake of potassium by 38%, the company said. Polyhalite was also shown to improve the micro-nutrient uptake of manganese by 27%.
""Another strong performance from polyhalite on such widespread and important crops is welcome and will continue to aid our discussions with current and future customers," Sirius Chief Executive Chris Fraser said in a statement.
Last month, Sirius Minerals submitted the necessary supplementary environmental information related to the York potash project plans to relevant local authorities. Sirius said it does not expect to have to provide any further substantive information to the authorities and is now looking towards a decision being made on its application for the project in Yorkshire, north east England in the "near future".
Sirius Minerals shares were up 3.8% at 8.20 pence Monday morning.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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