THE firm planning to build a potash mine in North Yorkshire has released a report outlining the benefits of potash to commercial farming.

York Potash has reported that its global crop studies continue to underline the benefits of polyhalite, the rare type of potash and fertiliser which will be targeted by the firm’s mine near Whitby.

York Potash, which is owned by Sirius Minerals, says international test results indicate that polyhalite delivers “excellent” multi-nutrients to plants and is “highly suitable” for commercial farming.

Recent independent studies conducted by Durham University, the University of Florida in the United States and Shandong Agricultural University in China, have been completed on a variety of crops including sugar cane, soya bean, corn, oilseed rape and potatoes.

These studies, which were undertaken in both field and pot study environments, have demonstrated that polyhalite can improve crop yields. The company, which has promised the creation of 1,000 direct jobs and thousands more across the supply and support industries, says it is continuing to see strong demand for polyhalite around the world.

Since it began marketing polyhalite, which it has done while putting together a planning application for the mine, it has signed major offtake agreements with customers in North America and China and has commitment from many other regions including Europe, the Americas and Asia.