Sirius Minerals has awarded a contract for the construction of the shafts at its mine project in North Yorkshire.
The company has entered into a design and build contract with DMC Mining Services UK and DMC Mining Services, both subsidiaries of KGHM Polska Miedz, for the construction of four shafts.
Sirius has previosuly been in extended discussions with AMC UK over the shaft sinking contract following the 'notice of award' in July 2017. However, due to "protracted discussions with AMC regarding commercial arrangements" it entered into talks with DMC and other shaft sinking companies.
Sirius has now entered into a design and build contract with DMC and has terminated ongoing arrangements it had for the shafts with AMC.
Chris Fraser, managing director and chief executive of Sirius, said: "Sirius continually seeks opportunities to use innovations and a commercial approach to accelerate development and unlock value. DMC has proven, world leading experience using Herrenknecht SBR technology on deep shafts and represents a strong partner, commercially aligned to our success.
"We are confident that they can deliver the North Yorkshire polyhalite project shafts significantly earlier than all previous expectations and we look forward to working with the team."
The Sirius Minerals project is under construction near Whitby. The company plans to invest billions of pounds into the project, which will produce an initial ten million tonnes of polyhalite each year.
Article Source: insidermedia.com