THE firm planning to build a potash mine in North Yorkshire has agreed a further global supply deal.

York Potash's latest deal for the potash mineral polyhalite is with a Central American based fertiliser distributor, that also has operations in Columbia.

The agreement is based on the supply of 150,000 tonnes per annum in the first year, rising on an annual stepped basis to 250,000 tonnes in the fifth year of production.

The agreement, which is for five years from first commercial production but can be extended by mutual agreement for a further five years, will allow the plant fertiliser mineral mined from under the North York Moors to be distributed across a number of regions including Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia.

Chris Fraser, managing director and of York Potash's parent company Sirius Minerals, said: "This agreement continues to extend the global sales reach of polyhalite and means we are now partnered with an organisation that controls a substantial proportion of the Central American crop input market.

“Our customer commitments now exceed five million tonnes per annum, with additional options for 750,000 tonnes per annum.

"We are having a number of ongoing discussions with customers seeking to tie down supply agreements for this important multi-nutrient mineral."

York Potash is currently working on submitting a planning application for the mine, near Whitby, to the North York Moors National Park planning authority.