Future looks bright for potash mine

Rob Laing-Taylor has worked as a miner at Cleveland Potash for 17 years and has just finished a 12 hour nightshift. If he's irritated at spending another three hours leading a guided tour of the UKs only potash mine he doesnt show it, his passion for his profession is obvious.

"When we get down there you'll see that it's dusty, its hot, there is salt everywhere and we operate 24 hours a day, it's great.

"I love it here and I'd encourage my 10 year-old son to come and work here. Hes already told me that he'd like to become a mechanical fitter," adds the 40 year-old from Guisborough , smiling through a wad of chewing tobacco, there is no smoking down the mine, not that he smokes anyway.

The Boulby mine has been producing the potassium-rich salt mineral since 1973. Used almost exclusively in the production of agricultural fertilizers, around one million tons of the potash is extracted each year, half of the UKs total output.

The mine also produces rock salt, used as a de-icing agent on roads in winter conditions.

Following an in-depth safety briefing on how to use the ventilators strapped to the heavy-duty belts which also carry the miners lamp battery pack, we head for the mine shaft.

This mile-long hole in the ground was excavated in 1969 when work started on the Boulby mine, which sits nestled on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors overlooking the North Sea.

The enormous grassed mounds looming over the mines railway are testament to the amount of earth removed to sink the shaft. The railway itself used to transport most of the mined material to Teesport, where it is shipped around the UK and further afield.

"You will feel it getting warmer as we descend," adds Rob as the blast of the heavy-duty ventilator system hits the lift. "As we get closer to the face you will feel it getting gradually hotter and at the face we will probably be in temperatures of around 42 degrees or so.

"A lot of the lads will come down in shorts and vests, but most quickly get used to working in the heat. We all take iced water down though and make sure were constantly hydrated."

At the pit bottom we are ushered into the aforementioned Pink Panther, a bright pink Landrover that has been converted for use underground.

"Every time we use a machine we must go through a check-list to make sure it is fit for use," says Rob. "Safety is paramount down here and this is just one of the ways we make sure that the workforce is safe and that our vehicles remain reliable.

"In total there are around 300 machines ranging from the (80 tonne) heli-miners to the little John Deere buggies," Rob says. "All are continuously serviced and maintained by ourselves and the workshops."

The pit bottom itself is a hive of activity as forklifts and Transit vans move between the cavernous stores, where a wealth of mining equipment is kept, to the maintenance garage and the management offices.

The tunnels themselves are enormous, easily large enough for two vans to pass side by side and with a height of around 15ft far from the claustrophobic burrows miners endured in the heyday of North-East coal mining.

The subterranean roads are smooth and dusty with mined rock salt. However, the closer to the face, the bumpier the roads and the hotter it gets.

A team of around nine miners work the south face, expertly handling the 80-tonne JOY heli-miner, a science fiction nightmare with a four metre wide rotating auger that chews into the tunnel walls removing tons of potash, and the long-boom drilling machine with handheld remote controls.

The drill is constantly eating away at the face, changing gradients by as little as raising the gradient by one meter every 50 metres to follow the potash seam.

"There is a joke that the higher up you go in the company the less you earn," says 35-year mining veteran and current shift manager, Andy Hird. "The lads get a cut of whatever is in that loader at the end of the day, but as shift manager all were concerned about is the safety of the crews. If we were motivated by bonus then the thinking is that corners may be cut and safety jeopardised and in this environment that just cannot happen.

"Its hard work, but a miner can earn a very good living."

As well as the miners, the local economy also depends on Cleveland Potash and the company, which draws around 90 per cent of its workforce from the surrounding towns and villages, is equally committed to the area.

External Affairs Manager, David Mcluckie, who is the second of three generations of a mining family said: "My dad worked here for 20 years, I have worked here for 32 years and my son started here five years ago. I even have a brother who started here six weeks ago.

"Hundreds of people from this area rely on Cleveland Potash for their income and we support a similar number of local businesses who provide us with goods and services.

"This place has helped keep East Cleveland alive in recent years and the company is committed to supporting the communities that surround it."

Each year Cleveland Potash pumps around 42m into the local economy, that is to say, the towns and villages that surround the Boulby plant, in wages and a further 50m to regional supply chain companies.

Its entire company car fleet is re-fuelled at a small garage in nearby Hinderwell, pumping more money back into the local economy.

Its near 1,000-strong workforce comes almost exclusively from neighbouring towns and villages, such as Boulby, Easington , Loftus , Guisborough and Saltburn and Cleveland Potash supports a further 4,000 jobs in the regional supply chain, that is three people for every one employed at Boulby.

NECC Chief Executive, James Ramsbotham, said: "This commitment to local communities is something that will not be changed anytime soon and is a source of immense pride to the management at Cleveland Potash and I applaud them for that.

"Potash may be important to help plants reach maturity, but it is also essential the economic health of that corner of our region."

And the future looks bright for Cleveland Potash. In April 2011, the mine began the worlds first commercial production of polyhalite, a rare mineral that has been found in large quantities in a seam out to sea from the mine.

It is estimated that over a billion tonnes of the mineral lies beneath the North Sea. Like potash, polyhalite also has a huge commercial potential as an organic fertiliser.

Also like potash, polyhalite is formed by the build up of salt from evaporating pre-historic seas that over millions of years has crystallised and become buried.

"Polyhalite could ensure the profitability of this mine for 50 years or more," adds David. "The potential for it is enormous."