Is there potash in them thar hills?

Eclectic is definitely a word I would use to describe my job – yesterday I visited the North York Moors National Park to see the sites where drilling was to take place to establish how much potash (a material used in fertiliser) is found in deposits under the National Park. But as well as learning more about this unique development proposal, I saw lovely wild flowers, pretty villages such as Thornton-le-Dale, the stunning North York Moors coastline (my favourite part) and the tourist metropolis that is Scarborough in the August school holidays.

The heathery North York Moors

The sheer variety of the North York Moors has always impressed me. I first came across this when I walked the Coast to Coast some years ago when, much to my surprise, the North York Moors turned out to be my favourite section, simply because of that variety. As well as the vast heathery moorlands I had been expecting I found interesting woods, waterfalls and, of course, that coastline. Heritage Coast has always seemed too weak a description to me – what about ‘so outstandingly beautiful that it takes your breath away’ coast? Anyway, enough of the hyperbole and back to the job in hand – potash mining and its future in the National Park.

I should say now that if this mining application materialises, as expected in late 2011 (although that timescale seems brashly ambitious to me), then it’s likely to be the most significant application in a National Park for some years. And yes, it will involve that old love triangle of nationally stunning landscapes, local jobs and nationally important ‘stuff’ (in this case potash or perhaps even something called polyhalite, another potassium bearing mineral).

So who’s the brains behind this scheme? The developer, Sirius Minerals, is an interesting company with no obvious track record of mining in sensitive landscapes. It has already applied for several exploratory boreholes in the National Park to assess the extent and quality of underground potash resources. However, only one of these is up and running, with delays to the others, not least because drilling boreholes in a sensitive environment like a National Park is always going to be more complicated than it seems on paper with many factors needing to be taken into account. Prehistoric sites, natural springs and tight timescales to beat the onset of inclement weather all make the minimum eight weeks needed to prepare, run and restore a drilling site look increasingly challenging.

Exploratory borehole at Hawsker

 

The other key player is of course the National Park Authority, which, as the local planning authority, will determine whether any application for potash/polyhalite mining should go ahead and, critically, whether it is in the national interest. Quite rightly it is at present neutral on the planning issue and has supported the exploratory boreholes on the basis that they will help to clarify the extent of the potash resource within the National Park. With the local council and MP already making positive noises (what elected politician would sniff at promises of over 1,000 jobs?), it’s been left to the local voluntary and tourism sector, along with local people who would be affected, to raise concerns and ask questions about the appropriateness of such a large scale development in a remote and tranquil part of the National Park.

 

Interestingly, there is already one underground potash mine in the North York Moors at Boulby, which we understand already satisfies the UK market for potash. For any further applications therefore a crucial question would be what is the national need for the development if it is primarily for export? Other key considerations will relate to the landscape impact of the minehead through which the extracted potash will emerge and how this will be transported from the site: there is no prospect of a rail link and the local road network could not cope with heavy lorries.

 

We’ll be keeping a close eye on these proposals as more details emerge and look forward to engaging with all parties to learn more about this development and the issues that it raises. But while we do this our goal to protect the nationally important landscape of the North York Moors so that future generations may enjoy and appreciate it will always be at the forefront of our minds. 

Advertisement