Massive New UK Mine Hinges on a Market that Barely Exists
- North Yorkshire project will produce rare type of fertilizer
- Anglo plans to start operations at new project in 2027
A bucket lift to an underground chamber at Anglo American Plc’s Woodsmith project.
Source: Anglo American PlcThis article is for subscribers only.
Deep below one of the UK’s oldest national parks, a 350 ton boring machine chews into mudstone rock. Traveling about 2 meters a day, the giant mechanical mole is digging Europe’s deepest mine shaft. But its final target is still about one kilometer and three years away: a thick seam of polyhalite, a rare type of fertilizer, stretching out for miles under the North Sea.
At a total price tag of around $9 billion, the project on the east coast of England represents a massive bet for owner Anglo American Plc and its boss, Duncan Wanblad. And the challenges are just as big.