Sirius Minerals Looking To Secure Financing As It Progresses Woodsmith

6th Mar 2018 09:12

LONDON (Alliance News) - Sirius Minerals PLC said Tuesday that 2017 was a "milestone" year for the company, with the company breaking into the FTSE 250 index in London, as it began construction at its flagship polyhalite mine in Yorkshire.

Sirius posted no revenue for 2017, due to not having reached production yet at the Woodsmith polyhalite mine, with its pretax loss widening to GBP79.2 million from GBP23.4 million.

During the year, Sirius completed enablement work at Woodsmith as well as site preparation and establishment works. It also began shaft sinking, and optimised shaft construction and design.

It also signed a take-or-pay supply agreement with Wilmar International for the use and resale of its POLY4 fertiliser in south-east Asia, adding to an existing group of "industry leading" customers.

Looking to 2018, Sirius is planned to finish the main service shaft foreshaft construction, and begin building a mineral transport system at Woodsmith. The overall goal at Woodsmith is for production to begin in 2021.

Woodsmith, located near Whitby in North Yorkshire, contains what Sirius says is the largest, highest grade source of polyhalite in the world. Polyhalite, it said, is a "unique" form of potash and is used as a multi-nutrient fertiliser.

Sirius said 2018 will be a pivotal year as the company looks for remaining financing to complete the project, and it said a partnership with the UK government in the form of a treasury guarantee under its infrastructure project scheme is "essential". Securing this, alongside stage two financing, is what Sirius will be focusing on this year.

Chief Executive Chris Fraser said: "Our world class project based in North Yorkshire has the potential to disrupt the global fertilizer market and contribute substantially to the UK economy.

"We achieved a number of important performance milestones in 2017, with commencement of construction, incremental supply agreements signed, bringing the total to 4.4 million tonnes per annum, a move to the London Stock Exchanges' Main Market and inclusion in the FTSE 250 amongst the highlights."

Shares were down 1.1% on Tuesday at 27.88 pence each.

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