A £405m rescue takeover bid for cash-strapped Sirius Minerals has been voted through. 

The company building a £4bn mine under the North York Moors is to be sold to mining giant Anglo American following a crunch vote of shareholders.

A tense meeting of shareholders was held yesterday in London with security guards monitoring proceedings.

Investors narrowly voted in favour of the deal, paving the way for the UK’s first major deep mine in 40 years to go ahead.

Sirius chairman Russell Scrimshaw said yesterday evening: “The positive outcome from today’s meeting secures a return for shareholders, and provides greater certainty in terms of safeguarding the project, protecting the jobs of our employees, and allowing the community, region and the UK to continue to benefit from the project.”

The vote which needed support from 75 per cent of the shares by value to go ahead won  80 per cent support. It also needed a majority of individual voting investors and received 62 per cent support.

Andrew Digwood, president of York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, as well as a partner – dispute resolution, Rollits LLP in York, said: “The Chamber has been a long-standing supporter of the Sirius Minerals project, recognising the significant economic uplift and job creation opportunities it will create.

“We hope that the intervention by Anglo-American ensures this project continues and that the envisaged benefits to the region and to the economy as a whole materialise.

"The project is expected to provide significant export revenue for UK plc and will help narrow the longstanding trade deficit.”

Henri Murison, director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “Last night news came through that the Anglo American bid to take over the Sirius Minerals Plc. project and prevents its imminent administration had been accepted.

"As director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, I look forward to working with the existing management team and new owners to support them to achieve this projects ambitions goals which will bring benefits to North Yorkshire, the Tees Valley and wider Northern Powerhouse.

“The approach that has been taken to invest in the community and develop the skills base to maximise the benefits to local people, important for the next generation, is critical to the development of Scarborough and Whitby which despite their popularity with tourists suffer from a stifled economy.

"The next step is devolution to develop Scarborough alongside York and its wider county, taking advantage of this project being saved to take the next major economic leap forward to drive up in productivity in a place which has had some of England’s lowest median wage levels.”