Whitby: Hundreds of jobs created at Woodsmith Mine

The mine is on the North York Moors National Park near Whitby

Two hundred jobs are being created by a company developing a huge potash mine in North Yorkshire.

Anglo American Crop Nutrients is sinking two major mineshafts to access deposits of polyhalite ore a mile deep at its Woodsmith mine near Whitby.

Once processed it will be sold globally to farmers as a natural fertiliser.

The roles include specialist engineers to non-specialist construction workers and the firm said it hoped as many jobs as possible would go to local people.

Sirius Minerals, the firm who who previously ran the mine, was taken over by Anglo America in March 2020.

The firm said the roles would become available in stages over the coming months and would include jobs working directly for Anglo American and construction contractors.

Anglo American is sinking two shafts to access the polyhalite ore that lies over a mile beneath the surface using large boring machines.

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When the mine is complete, the mineral will be brought up the production shaft and transferred to the mineral transport tunnel, which will carry the ore on a 23 mile long underground conveyor belt to a processing plant on Teesside.

The tunnel, underneath the North York Moors national park, heads north west to Teesside

Simon Carter, Chief Development Officer of the Woodsmith Project, said: "It's an incredibly exciting time for the project and a great opportunity for the right people.

"It'll be hard work and you need a strong work ethic, team work and communication skills, and a positive attitude to safety.

"But it'll also be incredibly rewarding work - a job you'll be telling your grandchildren about."