21st Dec 2015 13:02
LONDON (Alliance News) - Sirius Minerals PLC on Monday said its loss narrowed in the last financial year as it continues to progress its multi-billion pound potash mine in Yorkshire, north east England.
The miner reported a pretax loss of GBP4.7 million in the first half of the financial year ended September 30, narrowing from the GBP6.7 million loss booked a year earlier.
The company does not generate any revenue, with the narrower loss driven by lower administrative expenses, which fell to GBP4.6 million from GBP6.6 million.
The York potash project has received all the planning permissions required from local authorities with the company now focused on securing the substantial financing needed to get it off the ground.
Sirius believes the potash project can produce a "unique" polyhalite product to be used as a fertiliser which can help improve yields on crops and maintain soil quality, marketed under the name POLY4 as it contains four of the six nutrients required for plant growth.
Initially the mine will produce 10.0 million tonnes of polyhalite per year with the long-term ambition of doubling that. Sirius has signed offtake deals with some parties, including an unnamed Fortune 500 agri-business, with that deal recently being increased to 1.5 million tonnes a year and extended by two years to form a seven-year deal.
"The company's board, management and finance team continue to be focussed on both the efficient management of our existing funds and the ongoing (and extensive) work to secure financing for the construction of our project. We remain focussed on a range of options and the overall funding requirement can be delivered through a range of mechanisms, with debt funding likely to make up as much of the overall requirement as possible," said Sirius.
Sirius shares were trading down 6.5% to 14.50 pence per share on Monday afternoon.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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