Tory MP seeks assurances from BHP over Yorkshire potash mine

A SENIOR Tory MP is preparing to seek assurances from BHP over whether its attempted £31bn takeover of Anglo American will impact a major mining project in the north of England.

Sir Robert Goodwill, the Yorkshire MP whose constituency hosts Britain’s largest private-sector infrastructure project, said he would push BHP to reiterate its commitment to the Woodsmith project if its acquisition goes ahead. The proposed fertiliser mine in his Scarborough and Whitby constituency is expected to cost $9bn (£7bn) and employs some 1,400 local people.

It is expected to start production in 2027 but analysts at Berenberg, the US investment bank, said BHP will “probably delay the Woodsmith project” as it has another fertiliser mine in Canada.

The warning from Sir Robert, who is also chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, comes after BHP made an unsolicited £31bn offer for Anglo American last week that was rejected.

It has so far failed to convince the London-listed company to sell, although its future remains unclear after it emerged the activist investor Elliott has built up a $1bn stake in the business.

Sir Robert said: “If this takeover does go ahead, I’d be very keen to have an early meeting with BHP to seek reassurances that this won’t delay the Wood- smith project. They’re ploughing £1m a day into what will be the deepest mine in the United Kingdom, it’s more than a mile deep.

“They’re digging a 23-mile tunnel from Whitby to Teesport, much of which has been completed.”

He added that if BHP pulls off the acquisition, Woodsmith would be the “jewel in the company’s crown”.

Sir Robert added that mothballing the plant “would not be an option given how advanced construction is”.

Anglo American took over the Yorkshire mine after the company completed a rescue deal for Sirius Minerals in 2020.

It has since ploughed hundreds of millions of pounds into the project, which involves extracting a polyhalite, a new fertiliser product, from a mile underneath the North York Moors National Park and transporting it through a 23-mile tunnel to Teesside.

Anglo has sunk around $1.5bn into the Woodsmith project, including the costs of its £405m takeover of Sirius Minerals, the mine’s previous owner.

A further $900m is due to be spent in the 2024 financial year, mostly on further tunnelling and boring but the company is yet to make a final decision on whether to proceed with the project.

In February, Anglo said Woodsmith would be submitted for board approval in the first half of 2025, following a review.

BHP was contacted for comment.