Mining giant Anglo American has told of progress at its multibillion-pound Woodsmith fertiliser project in North Yorkshire.
In a new year-end report the multinational said it has spent around £505m ($641m) on infrastructure for the mine near Whitby, including the sinking of two deep shafts, a service shaft and a production shaft. It has also further built out 27.5km of the 37km conveyor tunnel that will be used to move the polyhalite fertiliser from the mine site to Teesside where it will be granulated and turned into Anglo’s POLY4 before being exported to international markets.
Anglo, which last year announced changes to the scope and design of the mine and recorded a £1.4bn impairment in its results, says 2024 will see a focus on sinking shafts through a strata known as the Sherwood sandstone, which will slow down due to the hardness of the rock and possible water fissures.
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Meanwhile a planned three-four month pause is planned to carry out maintenance on its German-built tunnel boring machine. Together the activities are expected to make up the bulk of an estimated £709m ($900m) spend on the North Yorkshire project.
In an update to investors the firm also indicated it was making further changes to Woodsmith. It said: “In parallel to the core infrastructure development, we are enhancing the project’s configuration to allow a higher production capacity and more efficient, scalable mining methods over time. The required studies for this are progressing well and will ensure that additional infrastructure is optimally designed to enable future optionality and maximise long term value over the expected multi-decade asset life.
“The project is planned to be submitted for a board approval decision on Full Notice to Proceed in the first half of 2025, following conclusion of the study programme.”
Last year, Anglo was reported to have been hunting for a partner in the £7bn scheme. It purchased the Woodsmith project from Sirius Minerals in a £405m deal in 2020. More broadly, Anglo’s results show a steep 94% decline in profits attributable to equity shareholders of the company, to £222m ($283m). It came on the back of a downturn in platinum group metals (PGMs) and diamonds.
CEO Duncan Wanblad said the FTSE100 firm would scale back capital spend by $1.6 billion over the next three years – and adopt a “value over volume mindset” to enhance returns.
He added: “There is no doubt that while the immediate macro picture presents some challenges for our PGMs and diamonds businesses, the demand trends for metals and minerals have rarely looked better. We are focused on reducing complexities and continue to manage our assets, capital and portfolio dynamically and for value.
“This includes syndicating large greenfield projects for value, as we did with Quellaveco, and as we plan to do for Woodsmith at the right time. We also look to identify opportunities with adjacent assets where there is significant value to be unlocked, while progressing our sequence of organic project options that offer considerable value growth, predominantly in copper, crop nutrients and high quality iron ore.”
Original artice – https://business-live.co.uk/all-about/yorkshire-humber
