In June 2015 members of the North York Moors National Park Authority voted to give the go-ahead to a huge potash mine under protected moorland near Whitby. The decision, passed by the narrow margin of 8 to 7, ended a 4-year planning wrangle. Permission to mine the area was given to a company called York Potash, a subsidiary of the UK firm Sirius Minerals.
Strictly speaking the term potash is used to refer to any fertiliser containing salts of the element potassium. The mineral to be mined is a type of potash called polyhalite, which Sirius Minerals describes as a ‘fertiliser of the future’. It contains potassium, magnesium, sulphur and calcium — four of the six key nutrients that plants need to grow well (the others are phosphorus and nitrogen). Sirius says that farmers will be able to use it in place of multiple other products.
Your organisation does not have access to this article.
Sign up today to give your students the edge they need to achieve their best grades with subject expertise
Subscribe
