Sirius Minerals signs deal with China's Huaken for North Yorkshire potash mine

Sirius Minerals has signed a seven-year deal to supply Chinese import and export group Huaken International with polyhalite from its mine in North Yorkshire.

Once the potash mine is fully operational, Sirius will supply as much as 500,000 tonnes a year under an “offtake agreement”, a deal made before a mine goes into production.

The deal with the China business follows an agreement with a US fertilizer group which tripled its seven-year deal in August to 1.5m tonnes of polyhalite a year.

Sirius has been seeking financiers for the development of the world’s largest deposit of polyhalite, a type of fertilizer, in the North York Moors National Park but the project is not expected to show an operating profit until 2019.

The mine is estimated to cost about £1.5bn to build and will produce about 13m tons of polyhalite a year, according to the latest study. A new feasibility study is expected to be completed in January.

Shares in Sirius were up 2.07% to 14.29p at 0915 GMT.