Britain's New Super Mine. The Mine That No One's Heard Of. 2023

The Woodsmith polyhalite mine.
Britain’s first large scale mine in decades.
Latest video: • There's Nothing Like A...
By Anglo American.
This high tech super mine, once completed, will be the largest and highest grade polyhalite mine in the world.
That’s because polyhalite has only been discovered in the UK.
A rare commodity that only Britain possesses and thanks to this mine, could see that £100 billion flows into the UK economy over the next 50 years.
Before we get into the mine, it’s important to first, briefly talk about what polyhalite is because it’s the new kid on the block in the fertiliser world.
Polyhalite is a type of potash which some experts claim to be the Rolls Royce of potash. Potash is a potassium rich, salt based mineral which is commonly used as fertilizer all over the world.
The unique advantage of polyhalite over other common forms of potash is that it contains 4 out of the 6 key essential nutrients that all plant life needs to grow.
These key nutrients are potassium, magnesium, calcium and sulphur.
Under the brand name Poly4, Anglo American will be looking to market it as a multi-nutrient, low chloride, ultra low carbon fertilizer certified for organic use that can increase crop yields as well as improve and protect soil conditions.
When compared to the 2 most commonly used potassium fertilizers, Poly4 produces 93% less Co2 than sulphate of potash and 85% less than muriate of potash.
I will provide links in the description for those that would like to learn more about Poly4 as it’s too big a topic for me to cover fully in this video.
Located in, or should i say under, the North York Moors, National Park in Yorkshire, England. 2 miles south of the town of Whitby.
Here is where they found a potential resource of 2.69 billion tonnes of polyhalite which would give the mine a life span of around 100 years and an identified reserve of 290 million tonnes which gives the mine a lifespan of over 30 years.
Originally deposited around 260 million years ago when an ancient sea dried up, the polyhalite was actually discovered by accident.
The polyhalite was first discovered back in the 1930’s by oil prospectors who were drilling for oil.
Only decades later was it realised to be a valuable mineral thanks to two geologists whom which the mine was fittingly named after.
The mine is set to go into production in 2027 and is costing around £6 billion and will create over 2000 jobs for the local area. Over 1000 of which will be long term.
The mine near Whitby will be accessed via 2 main shafts. Each of these shafts will be 1.5km deep. That’s almost 1 mile deep which will make it the deepest mine in Europe.
Due to it’s location, a much treasured national park, strict criteria were set in place in order for the mine to be built.
In order to not disturb the protected area of natural beauty, the mine had to be designed with minimal impact.
In fact, unless you have a helicopter, you would never even know it was there. And even then, it would just look like any other farm buildings.
The mine has been designed to be completely invisible to passer-by’s.
They even built a curve into the access road so anyone driving by would only see woodland.
When constructing a deep mine, you would typically have large winding towers at the surface which would be used for lowering and lifting people, machinery and material.
But being located in a national park, Woodsmiths giant winding towers, also known as headframes, will be hidden in 60m deep chambers to minimalize visual impact. A world first in mining.
These chambers will be constructed using an engineering method called diaphragm walling.
Once finished, the first 60m of the shaft is then excavated which will provide room for the 45m tall winding towers and other infrastructure.
The main mine shafts will then be mechanically sunk using an innovative, 3rd generation machine called a Shaft Boring Roadheader, a design inspired by tunnel boring machines.
This SBR is faster and safer than traditional drill and blasting methods.
Once lowered into the foreshaft, the SBR will then start it’s 1 mile journey down to the polyhalite.
Rotating in a star pattern, the cutting head can cut 200 millimetres deep with each pass. Every 5 of these cycles, the shaft becomes 1 meter deeper.
Material is then sucked back up the shaft and into skips which are then hoisted to the surface for either re-use or clearance.
As it descends, depending on the rock formation, the SBR will line the
www.poly4.com/
uk.angloamerican.com/our-fert...
uk.angloamerican.com/
Crop trials by ICL: icl-growingsolutions.com/agri...
Footage in this video has either been obtained with permission from the original copyright owner or used in compliance with section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 where allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. No infringement intended.

[@oscarrox]

I must live under a rock, I've never heard of polyhalite, or this amazing engineering project. This should be front page news, helping feed the world is big news.

[@andrewfrancis3591]

Too busy spreading doom and gloom. This is real news.

[@AndrewMair]

My sentiments exactly. Absolutely amazing. So considerate of the environment too.

[@peckelhaze6934]

New to me too!

[@williammackenzie6115]

When the Eco Loons hear of this they will have found something else to glue themselves to.

[@andrewfrancis3591]

@@williammackenzie6115 Don't be hard on them, we were all young once. We should celebrate Coal and Oil day, dragged us from a life expectancy of40's to 82 in 2010.

[@Del-bm]

We really need these kind of industrial projects to get this country back on track with industry

[@goodcat1982]

Totally agree. This is so good!

[@xelthiavice4276]

no no nowhat the UK needs of millions of more lazy free loading "immigrents"

[@PK-yf3hd]

But this means standing up to and facing down the eco loonies

[@Del-bm]

@@PK-yf3hd the sooner the better

[@johnburns4017]

@@PK-yf3hd Why would anyone eco oppose this scheme?

[@goodcat1982]

This country needs the added revenue that this mine will bring in. And it's a nice clean product. It's a shame we never hear about great things like this from our legacy media.

[@MemekingJag]

Not to mention it actively doing good by helping feed people, especially when breadbasket countries are at risk, and doing it with minimal environmental costs. I hope no NIMBY's make difficulty for the mining. We live in a time of amazing technological advancements, and to not use them for something as positive as this would be idiocy of the most egregious kind. Then again, this is also the country that has been closing down nuclear power plants despite our location being one of the most tectonically stable and safe places possible, so I wouldn't put it past some short sighted dipshits to find some issue with it.

[@DeityBladeGaming]

The BBC covered this back in 2020

[@roppa789]

It depends on where you live. We live in the north east and very regularly have update news stories on local BBC and ITV regarding the mine. BBC Countryfile covered it a year a two ago. Just because you haven’t noticed coverage doesn’t mean it isn’t there and perhaps your remarks reveal more about your own biases and prejudices.

[@MemekingJag]

@@roppa789 I don't think not being exposed to other regional news media is a bias or prejudice of any kind, it's simply ignorance from it not being considered newsworthy by national outlets. If I had to guess, I'd say that the majority of local stories about it would be protests, cost overruns, claims of possible local environmental damage etc, negative stories are just far more click-catching than positive ones.

[@goodcat1982]

@@roppa789 my biases and prejudices? What are you on about?? If "local" people hear about it then great. But the rest of the country aren't "local."

[@yorkshirecoastadventures1657]

I live 10 miles from Woodsmith and less than a mile from the Anglo-American offices.Ive learnt more from this video than from the local press.I enjoyed it and was fascinated that this is all going on locally and with minimum environmental impact.

[@thecuriouslobster]

That's awesome! Glad you liked it. Thanks for watching!

[@coolfox999]

"with minimum environmental impact" just wait then they start taking millions of tonnes from under out, earth quakes and handmade chalky dusty mountains to come :-) all this lovely round granules don't make themselves is huge mining operation "with minimum environmental impact" :-))

[@simonmultiverse6349]

Poor little rabbits!

[@simonmultiverse6349]

Did I video the enjoy this content? Glub, glup.

[@jonathanhicks140]

@@coolfox999 But the product is less environmentally damaging than the alternatives, the method of extraction considerably less damaging than other forms of mining & we need the fertiliser to feed an over populated world. Is is environmentally worse than not producing fertilisers - yes of course it is, but not doing it isn’t an option so this is by far the best compared to the other methods of producing fertilisers.

[@winniewotsit4452]

At last. Something to cheer us up. Hats off for MR Woods and Smith. We still have the engineering expertise - if only we had any common-sensical politicians to encourage our engineers to provide us with other wealth creating schemes. Abundant affordable and reliable energy being top of the list.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Yep

[@Thesomersetgimp]

Hate to break it to you but it’s already been sold to the yanks. Hence why it’s been kept quiet.

[@goodcat1982]

@@Thesomersetgimp Do you just go around the internet spreading false information? It's very sad. Your youtube name says it all though i guess.

[@uqs57bju]

@@goodcat1982 Pretty certain he saw the word American in the company name and then his brain stopped functioning from there.

[@pauljshields123]

No the useless British Government was not going to help, so had to get American help...it's was nearly closed down..

[@thecuriouslobster]

Hello everyone. Someone in the comments has brought something to my attention that i feel i should clear up. When i said.... "a commodity that only Britain possesses....." i was simply referring to the previous statement of...."That’s because, a polyhalite seam with such high purity, and in a location that allows processing and shipping to be viable, has only been discovered in the UK." To me, this statement clearly implies other seems of polybasite have been discovered elsewhere, which they have. But only the UK has a seam this big AND with such purity AND in a location that makes it minable. That in itself being "the commodity." Only 1 person has mentioned this so i'm assuming most of you knew what i meant. One statement cancelling out the other kind of thing. Perhaps i could've worded it better. Anyway i just wanted to clear that up because my channel is not about clickbait, misleading anyone, misinformation, politics or biases! I pride myself on honesty and integrity. EDIT: It's not an American company! :)

[@EuroWarsOrg]

"Britain possesses"? You mean Anglo American possesses? How much does UK get in the end? Most of which goes to foreigners anyway...

[@m101ist]

Who, profits,does this mean lowering,UK home food production cost and food cost for its citizens?

[@advisorsandy2068]

That's because it's fake news.

[@JamesHartnell]

Welcome to the internet, where angry people can have a punch up in an empty room. We all knew what you meant.

[@mememachine5244]

That is litearlly exactly what you said, anyone saying otherwise is just a moron trying to be clever. There is no other sane enterpretation of what you said "x and y and z has only been found in the UK". CLEARLY meaing that the 3 together were only gound here.

[@Rob-zx8lm]

I lost £40k when Sirius Minerals gave this huge asset to Anglo American. The MD tricked the majority of his small investors with promises, until he ran out of our money, and gave the resource to AM. I am livid. However, as a small private investor, the MD took his £1m + from AM and I along with many, many other private investors, we were left with nothing. What a way to treat us.

[@Incogneto1981]

I know people who lost A LOT of money when Sirius did that. Shocking.

[@mattwright2964]

Although it was pretty obvious he was going to do this, it's a model that is typical with small initial developers.

[@sharpy1785]

It’s what the yanks do best to investors, rug pull. Was absolutely devastated to hear about local investors. Shocking.

[@robbie_]

This doesn't make any sense whatsoever. How were you an "investor", or did you just throw money at something without any legally binding obligation to a share in it. Otherwise you have recourse to the courts. A fool and his money, as they say.

[@bumblaster9000]

I'll get my tiny violin out for you

[@martinrye712]

Let's hope uk customers can purchase it at a lower cost than its sold worldwide otherwise all we are doing is helping make profits for the shareholders.its our resource not the companies!

[@cuebj]

Like North Sea oil: Norway did it right, we paid bonuses to Thatcher's pals so they could distort the housing market, offshore what they didn't spend immediately, and buy Porsches from Stuttgart

[@nobodydoesithalfasgoodasyou]

You're allowed to buy shares, you know

[@martinrye712]

@@nobodydoesithalfasgoodasyou and you think most people in the uk can afford to do that,get real!!

[@nobodydoesithalfasgoodasyou]

@@martinrye712are you telling me you can't afford to buy shares? I wouldn't be surprised if your pension fund held AAM

[@MP-vc4nu]

@@nobodydoesithalfasgoodasyou Sadly a lot of people can’t do so except for British Empire era people living in UK, Over taxation just make middle class 100% pointless, while riches dodge tax and only poors live in 1k+ square feet living space and order tasty takeaway meal every night for free basically/

[@danialhughes830]

This is amazing and great news for the UK. Wonder why we don’t hear about this on mainstream media.

[@dalane5196]

Ah thats because the message gone out to the MSM, Brexit bad, UK finished, UK cannot survive without socialist 1984 style EU. Can’t have that message been diluted with any good news for heavens sake.

[@annoloki]

Maybe because it's not 2027 yet?

[@jimviv6030]

​@@dalane5196 nothing to do with Brexit

[@dalane5196]

@@jimviv6030 What you don't agree that BBC etc, are always talking down the UK, Brexit Bad, Britain small and a failure. Because that's what I see when ever I watch a BBC report, they desperately are trying to smother good news with bad news. For instances here in Australia for the last few days on all the mainstream channels the Free Trade Agreement between UK and Aus has been in the news, all the benefits it will bring to Aussie farmers and how it will now be a lot cheaper to import British Vehicles, Pharmacy, Manufactures Cosmetics and Foods, have you seen anything on BBC, bet you have not. Why is that do you reckon ?

[@paulhellawell5920]

It was in the news years ago.

[@peckelhaze6934]

It is utterly appalling that this has been out of the public eye since discovery. There is so much to shout about that we Brits have discovered this.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Yep.

[@ExplodingPiggy]

"We" Brits have done sod all 🙄

[@markbeale7390]

​@Joss Ackland's Spunky Backpack speak for yourself.

[@ExplodingPiggy]

@@markbeale7390 I am lol

[@markrainford1219]

I stumbled across it maybe four or five years ago, so it's not been hidden, but yes definitely low key. The greens had their moan of coarse. That's why they spent a hundred million pounds building tunnels and hiding the headstocks.

[@gregchapman5556]

This is an incredible project. Why is this the first I’ve heard of this project. Amazing science and engineering.

[@ickster23]

You haven't heard of it because it has no DEI or climate change angle to it.

[@1882osr]

@@ickster23 Being "ultra low carbon" is definitely a climate change angle

[@MeiinUK]

@KingOfTheFoamPit : Maybe the climate people and the environmentalists are now also capitalists too themselves? I have started to see the old charities and activism... are now a real operating charity model.. which is equating to that of an actual corporation. So yeh.. I don't think that they are going to rock the boat now, when they milk the social media landscape... And NOW the environmental issues are going back round isn't it ? Talking about... "mass chicken farms are not as bad when phosphates from the poops were centrally collected"... cos now.. the rivers are being polluted with excess farming. (Er.... Isn't this why intensive farming was supposed to be a solution ?).... Do you realise that if we stood still... the media circuits will keep going back round ?... This is why in Singapore, they built an actual chicken factory which collects the poops. And then sells the poops. Lol.... Oh yeh.. they dehydrate them and use them as powderised fertilisers...

[@Kratos-005]

The MSM in the UK refuses to report on any sort of positive news about this country. They want us all depressed for eternity with constant doom and gloom stories. Getting a bit sick and tired of it tbh, KZbin is where I get all my news from nowadays. Sigh….

[@James-st9uu]

Because you only hear UK bashing on mainstream media

[@mateobravo9212]

Hope it is treated in the UK as a strategic asset and traded only with key partners, not spunked up the wall and sold to the highest bidder. I hope. The value of developing these engineering solutions is also massively important if other deposits are found worldwide. I appreciated the new, non-automated narration. Thanks and greetings from Spain.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Thanks Matthew. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@colonelturmeric558]

Or used to fertilise our own land first, then others get a look in

[@sichere]

@@colonelturmeric558 That's an awful lot of Fertilizer !

[@Leberteich]

The fact that it is kept so quiet suggests the opposite to me. I fear it already has been sold, namely to Anglo American. If that was the highest bidder or simply the one with the lobbyists closest to UK government is another question.

[@sichere]

@@Leberteich You can invest in Anglo American too

[@jamesneilsongrahamloveinth1301]

My first thought was - surely Britain is in decline. That's what we are mostly told in the media - Britain is broken - manufacturing is dying. And here I find this amazing engineering project proceeding under the radar. Perhaps we shouldn't do ourselves down quite so much . . .

[@giancarlovilla1]

Britain has committed the biggest self harm economically. Its going to take time for Brexit lunatics to go through various stages of denial/blame. Thankfully we do have businesses leaders that can adapt to the challenges that the Brexit voters have given us all.

[@thecuriouslobster]

We still have a few tricks up our sleeves. Thanks for watching James. Glad you liked it!

[@vinay7397]

The UK ranked as the 4th most innovative country in the world, and of the top 10 universities 4 are British. I left England ages ago, and in the EU Britain is not seen as a country in decline, but many people are puzzled by Brexit.

[@sichere]

The UK moved away from being a manufacturing colossus and with all the money it made is an Equity Colossus as it's far more lucrative.

[@Leberteich]

Mining is not manufacturing.

[@KingOhmni]

Well this was a trip down memory lane for a former Sirius Minerals investor. Good to see Anglo American are not mothballing the whole thing but still. That was a painful lesson in not investing based on being local to a project.

[@DavidKnowles0]

They do love to bitch about the cost of the project, like they aren't eventually going to make billions upon billions from it.

[@bio7377]

That happening was so scummy and it was also a massive missed oppertunity by our trash govornment

[@dipladonic]

Many Sirius Minerals shareholders facilitated about £500m of seed capital and CAPEX for this project and were then duly shat upon from a great height when the British government refused to underwrite the last part of the capital that SM was trying to raise to complete this project. Then, Anglo basically stepped in and bought out existing shareholders in a fire sale. At one point I had a book valuation of about £250k in SM. Absolutely shocking what happened. Bo Jo fucked this, fracking (Cuadrilla), and the UK economy with the Covid mitigation strategy. The irony of him now making millions hasn't passed me by!

[@alan_davis]

​@dipladonic "I put my private money in and when the government didn't I blamed them..." - take a look in the mirror mate.

[@dipladonic]

@@alan_davis Sirius didn’t want government money. Sirius wanted a UK government guarantee which would have made the treasury about £50,000,000. Fundraising is obviously well above your pay grade, so keep on stacking Cornflakes at Asda bro.

[@jimmurray2965]

This is extraordinary and yet no public awareness of such.....

[@MrEdrftgyuji]

Can't have good news in the media.

[@annoloki]

I'm sure the farming community will care once it's available, most people don't deal with fertiliser tho. If people did care about where fertiliser comes from, we probably wouldn't be in a war with the largest producer of it.

[@newfineart]

What an incredibly well made video on such a fantastic project, and by a channel with less than 400 subscribers. Happy to subscribe and am looking forward to more content from you.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Thanks for the kind words XNY! I put everything into this video. Thanks for watching!

[@juliane__]

No, in the first 30 seconds you get misinformation, when the author states polyhalite is only found in the UK. It is found everwhere in the world and even mined in Germany.

[@thecuriouslobster]

@@juliane__ Hi Juliane. Yes and no. Polyhalite has been discovered elsewhere in the world but not a deposit as large as this AND with such high purity AND that is economically viable to mine. When i said "a commodity that only Britain possesses." i was simply referring to that. I did mention just before that statement that "That’s because, a polyhalite seam with such high purity, and in a location that allows processing and shipping to be viable, has only been discovered in the UK." This in itself implies other deposits have been found elsewhere so there is clearly no attempt to mislead anyone. I could've worded it better though i suppose upon reflection. I hope you liked the video none the less.

[@newfineart]

@@juliane__ The only polyhalite mined in the world comes from a layer of rock over 1,000 m (3,300 ft) below the North Sea off the North Yorkshire coast in the UK. Deposited 260 million years ago, it lies 150-170 m (490-560 ft) below the potash seam at the Boulby Mine1. You were saying?

[@winniewotsit4452]

Absolutely. A first class presentation.

[@adrianpreston]

Wow - that's amazing and UK based - never knew and being done in such a responsible way. Well done to all involved in such a considered project. And thank you for such a great video.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Glad you liked it Adrian! Thanks for your comments!

[@bremnersghost948]

Good to see a YT channel doing a video on the Woodsmith Mine, Now HS2 has been halved Woodsmith must be the biggest engineering project in the UK

[@thecuriouslobster]

Thanks Bremner. Glad you enjoyed it. I'm trying to share it with the world. On one else will it seems :)

[@goodcat1982]

I had no idea it was that big. Awesome

[@MrTench8]

I very much doubt the Sirius minerals share holders are happy that they got shafted by JP Morgan and the UK government and now the project is now getting off the ground with a different owner after they bought it for 5.5p a share!

[@gordonhoughton3095]

Totally agree, I was one of them.

[@RN-zi4pk]

Don't invest money you can't afford to lose.

[@TG-ts3xn]

And people still think UK farmers will get cheap rates on the product lol

[@BanTaaax]

Wow, what a piece of engineering this project is, it is fascinating!! This could be a much needed boost for our economy and it’s nice to see something positive about the UK for once

[@Jollyva]

Great video, had no idea this was such a massive project!

[@goodcat1982]

It looks amazing. I think they are also looking to sell it at a much lower cost per ton than the most common forms of potassium fertilizer. Potash fertilizers make up about 20% of all global fertilizer use. If they have a better product and can undercut the competition, they could own the market and be the sole producers of 20% of all global fertilizer!? Little old England feeding the world :)

[@joseph8208]

This is fantastic news for the UK. What an engineering marvel!

[@thecuriouslobster]

Yep. Glad you liked it Joseph. Thanks for watching!

[@ColinWatters]

85,000 small investors originally backed this project when it was owned by Sirus Minerals. Sirus Minerals tried to raise money to build it but were forced to abandon a £400m bond sale after weak demand, and the withdrawal of government support.

[@engineer1003]

Yes, if those small investors had not taken the initial risk this mine would not exist. I will not be doing that again.

[@thecuriouslobster]

I hope everyone likes the changes that i've made in todays video regarding the new narrator. It will be like this from now on. Let me know what you think about this new mine. Thanks for watching.

[@user-vt5iz5gh1g]

I like the new voice.

[@goodcat1982]

Great video! And yes, it's much nicer to hear a human talking. Well done.

[@alan_davis]

Friendly YT tip: You should pin this type of comment to the top so everyone sees them.

[@thecuriouslobster]

@@alan_davis Hi Alan. I actually did for the first couple of weeks. I might change it back though actually. Thanks.

[@EternalAnglo]

I love the new Narrator will you go back to old videos and redo them? I absolutely hate the Machine voice lol

[@pdterre5496]

Very interesting. Our farm spread this North Sea potassium rock for the first time this spring . Ideal for our sandy potato fields. Cheers from Finland.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Wow that's awesome! Did you buy it from ICL? Their mine is just down the road from this one and they were the first producers of polyhalite i think. There is a link in the description to some crop studies. I think in that link they did a potato study. It would be interesting to hear your results with it in the future. Thanks for watching!

[@Anakin_Sandy_High_Ground]

This project has a Tom Scott video written all over it. “I’m at woodsmith mine”

[@thecuriouslobster]

shushhhhhh :)

[@MeiinUK]

Funny how he actually didn't declare that much money and profit in his company. WEIRD. That..... SO odd.... Hm... It's like a trick facade.

[@annoloki]

He'll probably film the 23 mile ride!

[@thecuriouslobster]

@@annoloki Tell him to take me with him 😁😁

[@user-bh4gw7ck4d]

I worked there for nearly a year through Covid. I left to go back to what I was doing before once everything opened again... mainly due to not liking shift work. Great project and a good company to work for.

[@Summz24]

Hats off to the people that design the machines and systems to make project like this happen. Absolutely outstanding work

[@raymondporter2094]

A good video, so thank you! This mine will effectively take over from the Boulby Potash Mine a few miles to the north in the North York Moors. But, from what you say, producing a purer more valuable sort of potash. Both mines are deep and therefore HOT underground (the old Boulby mine going well out under the North Sea).

[@sichere]

For hundreds of miles too

[@markrowland1366]

Wow. The UK are getting into stride. Too much top stuff.

[@dudmanjohn]

The UK are not doing this, it's a publicly owned company.

[@BinnyBongBaron_AoE]

Good, the UK needs a win right now.

[@TG-ts3xn]

😂 all the shareholders are based in off-shore tax havens

[@Jamie92208]

A very interesting video. You mentioned a mai tendance railway along the material handling tunnel. It would be interesting to see more details when they are available.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Hi James. There's not much to it to be honest. Some of the tunnel is finished and it's actually what you can see in the thumbnail. The conveyor belt is actually at the top of the tunnel and you can just make out the train tracks at the bottom with power cables running down the sides. Just like in the animation. Thanks for watching! Glad you found it interesting.

[@thespur2522]

I just want to add to so many of the comments already about what a great video that was. I just subbed. And I have the feeling your channel will grow a lot in the coming weeks and months. This is the first I have ever heard about this. I'm glad I clicked on it.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Thanks for the kind words The Spur! I hope so to haha. Thanks for watching.

[@goodcat1982]

Awesome video! I had no idea about this

[@dipladonic]

Many Sirius Minerals (the original Company) shareholders facilitated about £500m of seed capital and CAPEX for this project and were then duly shat upon from a great height when the British government refused to underwrite the last part of the capital that SM was trying to raise to complete this project. Then, Anglo basically stepped in and bought out existing shareholders in a fire sale. At one point I had a book valuation of about £250k in SM. Absolutely shocking what happened. Bo Jo fucked this, fracking (Cuadrilla), and the UK economy with the Covid mitigation strategy. The irony of him now making millions hasn't passed me by!

[@Infinity2219]

More interesting is this is on my doorstep and the original company mysteriously went bankrupt and got bought out by Anglo American

[@cuebj]

Common pattern - originator going bust then being bought out. Seen it so many times, I assume that's what will happen when a big development is proposed

[@gordonhoughton3095]

Yes seems typical.

[@mark27432]

What a fascinating video! A hidden mine, miles of underground conveyors and no trucks used getting it to the port. Thanks for sharing this. As an engineer it feels like the kind of design you would use in video games, amazing to see it it economically viable. Or maybe they had no choice with it being a national park.

[@dogsnads5634]

Absolutely zero choice in the matter, North York Moors is heavily regulated. Even the Ballistic Missile Warning site at nearby RAF Fylingdales was affected...

[@SirZanZa]

What a fantastic video, really cool to see this happening here in the UK

[@thecuriouslobster]

Thanks Manga!

[@alvanrigby6361]

The world needs the potash now.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Soon :)

[@MeiinUK]

@@thecuriouslobster : Yes.. but do you really need or want a 10 billion population ? We only went from 3 billion under 70 years. I don't want this. lol... I rather euthanasia is on the cards now... The world is too chaotic.. as it is.

[@fairyheli2]

​@@MeiinUK are you a Bill Gates type or will you volunteer yourself to be one of the euthanized?

[@boring4606]

Wow, the engineering in this is amazing. The thought of how it impacts the park is also well thought out. Its stuff like this makes you proud to be British. The msm need to report less on doom and gloom.

[@GeneralThargor]

Wow, this is an amazing project, I'd never heard of the stuff but the amount of effort they are putting into get it means it's valuable to someone! This is a great video with amazing graphics explaining it all.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Thanks!

[@LewisStockton125]

I've been there (Well the Wilton site), and where I work is doing work on it. Quite an interesting place. Walking through the warehouse where they keep the tunnel pieces is just.. wow. You don't really get the scale until you see how big they are. Not been in the tunnel as I was only there to calibrate some stuff :D

[@GB-gi9by]

Great video, I knew there was plenty of pot ash under the North Sea being mined but this is the first I’ve heard of this project.

[@Miniplev]

This is INSANE amounts of engineering and positivity for England yet I haven't heard a single thing about it. Happy it's in the North to

[@thecuriouslobster]

Yeah it's pretty awesome. Glad you liked it Rob. I just posted my latest video about an hour ago. Another massive engineering project. You might like that also. Thanks for watching!

[@LA90598]

We don't shout about our successes and the media don't show it as they only put the country down. If this was in the US we would know about it

[@inflationstation1]

Now this is cool, hats off to whoever put this into practice; modern mining is awesome.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!

[@tesfombeyan7525]

This industrial project is really amazing, I had a chance to work there for about a month installing PD sensors. hopefully it will add some revenues to our economy.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Hey Tesfom. Awesome! What are PD sensors though? (Partial Discharge?) Thanks for watching. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@Jakeo93]

I work for a supplier of the mining hoists and winches on this project and would like to say what a great video! You don't see this level of detail on this project, the information shared is all correct,. There are lots of feats to overcome on this project and it's a shame it is hardly mentioned. As labelled on the video, the MTS headframe is only temporary for the shaft sinking phase of the MTS shaft. The other two shafts are being sunk in tandem with their own SBR machines. For conext on scale, they're about 60m tall! Once sunk, the SBRs will be ran past shaft depth and buried.

[@thecuriouslobster]

They are using 2 SBR's?! Wow thanks for that Jake! I didn't know. I also had no idea they are being buried below the shaft?! Why are they doing that? They must cost a fortune each. Can they not be retrieved and reused on other jobs? And thanks for the kind words mate! I'm doing my best :). Stay tuned for my next video coming hopefully by the end of the week. I can't give much away at this point but it's another big engineering project. The longest "something something" in the world and one of the biggest construction projects in Europe. :) Thanks for watching!

[@Jakeo93]

@@thecuriouslobster Correct, pretty mind blowing! The MTS shaft was sunk using the traditional way. Yes, they are a significant ammount of cash, it certainly was a hold-your-breath moment when we first fully suspended the SBR off of our winches in the shaft! They won't reuse the SBR's because it's simply not viable. In a nutshell, there's too much in the way to get them out and the SBR machines will probably need a mega overhaul/rebuild anyway if they were to come out after the mile dig. So the costs totally outweigh the benefits. I'm sure there will be some bits that get disassembled and come back up, but on the whole they'll stay down there.

[@thecuriouslobster]

@@Jakeo93 Wow thanks for that! Damn, i wish i knew that before i made the video. I would've loved to have added that in!

[@bettyswunghole3310]

It's very encouraging that primary production is coming back to the UK...now we need to revive secondary production too...

[@donatoferioli7426]

Thanks, been interested in polysulfate mining for a while. Great video.

[@jimskirtt5717]

At that depth, surely they could drop water pipes which would result in geothermal heat to run the entire plant! The temp at that depth is going to be around 50 deg c. Using heat pumps would surely be a good idea, no? (More useful than they are at heating a home at ground level!).

[@Lufe6301]

Thanks for the video. Visited this (lovely) area recently from Australia and drove around the countryside without knowing all this was going on! Fantastic effort and just goes to show what can be done when good people are allowed to do it. Makes me proud of England (and Yorkshire)

[@thecuriouslobster]

I told them to keep it down while you were visiting ;)

[@Lufe6301]

@@thecuriouslobster thanks for hgreat information and just shows what can be achieved when the correct checks and balances are put in place. Of course there must be a awful lot of clever people involved.

[@Cecil195200]

An incredible project. Have followed this from the start of geological exploration project. The technology is extraordinary. Mining can be intrusive, but done like this, wow!

[@thecuriouslobster]

Glad you enjoyed the video Cecil. I can't wait to see it finally up and running. Thanks for watching.

[@AllensTrains]

Very informative video. I had nio idea this mine was being built! Thanks for uploading.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Thanks Allen! Glad you liked it. Feel free to share it with others. It's amazing how few people know about this project. Thanks for watching.

[@4TheRecord]

1:05 Brawndo's got what plants crave

[@6brman224]

Electrolytes.

[@RobbySmokez]

very well made video. I dont normally comment or like as based off the quality I assumed this was a very large channel already. I subbed, commented and liked and looking forward to watching more. Will be sharing with my stream viewers also

[@thecuriouslobster]

Thanks for the kind words LSG! And the sharing!

[@piked261]

Fascinating...a truly important step forward for feeding the world.

[@Fester_]

Really interesting. Thanks. Like being back at primary school.

[@04williamsl]

As soon as I saw 'Britain's New Super Mine' I knew it would be the one near Whitby. I come from Teesside, and every time I got to Whitby (a few times a year) with my boyfriend he always points out where the conveyor belt system will go 😀 (Also, thank you for spelling both Teesside and Middlesbrough correct... even local street signs spell it wrong 😮‍💨 It's like our local celebrity.

[@thecuriouslobster]

"even local street signs spell it wrong" Hahahahaha! You're welcome. Thanks for watching!

[@johnB-et5ux]

Much better voice! I hope it was not just for me... I do not know whether you are AI, Chinese group, one person, or a team or something else, but you do make and provide really good content. Every video I have watched has been interesting and well done. I am surprised you only have a few hundred subs, you deserve lots more. Thank you.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Thanks Jon. I'm just a 1 man band from the UK learning from scratch. Glad you liked the improvements. I'm hoping the new voice will get the subs coming in. Thanks for watching

[@friedchicken4326]

@@thecuriouslobster good hustle, keep it up

[@thecuriouslobster]

@@friedchicken4326 Haha thanks Fried Chicken!

[@friedchicken4326]

@@thecuriouslobster you're welcome, i can see that you made a good video and to the untrained ear, it doesn't even sound like AI. Can I ask though - is the footage for these type of videos available from the company responsible? Are they publishing this media for commercial reuse?

[@thecuriouslobster]

@@friedchicken4326 That's because it's not AI. I hire a professional voice over actor from Fiverr for my videos now. The footage is not available for commercial reuse but i did obtain permission to use it. Everything said in this video, however, are my own words and my own opinion of the project.

[@richardbastow9200]

Saw the video and subscribed straight way. Great vid, keep up the good work.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Cheers mate. Glad you liked it!

[@TheZiddy101]

Amazing

[@peterd788]

That's some crazy engineering.

[@mikemines2931]

How coal used to be mined before politicians thought the pondlife would be better off freezing to death.

[@kieranmilner4208]

Hopefully we get more of our mines back into service

[@W2LTA]

I worked briefly on this project at the Lockwood Beck site and it was well run, coming from an old mining town myself its good to see a new mine on this scale being built.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Awesome! That's where they built the maintenance shaft for the TBM isn't it? I was going to put that in the video but left it out in the end. Glad you liked the video mate. Thanks for watching.

[@W2LTA]

@@thecuriouslobster Yes it was one of the 2 service shafts, such a cool project with the length of tunnels being made, usually you see projects like this in countries like the US, Austria, Switz etc. so its great to see innovation so far North of London.

[@markscarborough1018]

Not happy to see 9:57 . Makes it sound like global markets are more important than our own. Our Government must make sure this is made available to UK farmers as a priority and at discount. Our resource for our benefit. Support our farmers please!

[@cuebj]

Er... enough Brits have been voting in strategic places for a government that is all about creaming off such national assets to offshore holding companies - implies an awful lot of voters disagree with you (and me)

[@markscarborough1018]

@@cuebj I didn't realise we lived in a democracy any more? Voting makes no difference, they're all the same.

[@user-jb5ey4ky9x]

Great Video

[@thecuriouslobster]

Thanks 404!

[@bw7778]

Why have we heard nothing about this huge project in the national media?? Oh, that's right - because it's something positive about Britain...

[@joetaylor486]

I love down the road from the Woodsmith site and you can scarcely see it from any neighbouring roads. Its lighting is far more apparent on overcast nights. Did not know the level of engineering involved though, nor the benefits offered by what the mine produces. Fabulous.

[@thecuriouslobster]

How far is it from Catterick? I used to live in Catterick for about a year when i was in the army years ago. As for the lights, i'm assuming you wont even see them once constructing is finished. Glad you liked the video!

[@joetaylor486]

@@thecuriouslobster Oooh not sure but I would guess about 45 miles but Google maps would confirm. Sorry, that's a bit pants. There is another surface site about 6 miles from Guisborough too that you can see from the Whitby/Middlesbrough road.

[@thecuriouslobster]

@@joetaylor486 Yeah they built an "access shaft" at Lockwood Beck which is very near Guisborough. It provides access to the MTS and was also used to service the SBR I think.

[@joetaylor486]

Yeah they had a couple of substantial "headcages" there for clearly sending down boring machines. Very impressive tbh.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Don't forget to check out the crop studies link in the description. Amazing results!

[@iancrossley6637]

I hope British farmers get a good deal when purchasing this material. After all it is a local resource. A twenty three mile long conveyor belt sounds a little sketchy. Is it really better than a train?

[@celtspeaksgoth7251]

Just like our petrol is super cheap thanks to all the North Sea Oil

[@TG-ts3xn]

Heh wishful thinking. That’s against WEF plans.

[@barberasredhair9720]

Fascinating, thank you

[@reallyratherwouldnt]

Great video. Keep it up. You’ll get way more subscribers with quality stuff like this.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Thanks Pigeoncake. The new voice actor seems to be paying off massively. I will use him for all future videos now. I'm kind of blown away at how suddenly this video has changed my channel. This video got 25k views in 2 weeks and then 75k views in 2 days! I remember thinking wow 35k views holy cow!!! And then boom! It also took me 4 months to get about 600 subscribers and then in the last 2 days i got 1400. It's just insane! I almost jacked it in several weeks ago. This latest video has now given me a massive confidence boost! Thanks for watching! Glad you liked it. Next video out within the next 7 days hopefully.

[@BenSwanster]

Once built this will definitely be on a episode of Tom Scott

[@thecuriouslobster]

He has to take me with him :)

[@davidbuchanan1577]

Yep, a great project. Originally this was owned and developed by Sirius Minerals plc. However, they ran out of cash and, true to form, the government wouldn't underwrite them (if i remember rightly the additional funding requested was around £400m - not so much in the scheme of things and considering the order book). Anglo-American bought it for a song. The smaller investors (many of whom were locals and had sunk their life savings and pensions into it) lost out big time. Coincidentally (perhaps), one government treasury minister at the time (though he said he had changed departments before the decision was made) has a friend with financial interests in a rival mine (Cleveland Potash). Either way, I'm sure the decision will be remembered at the next general election.

[@janetke6673]

Feeling a bit silly. Heard about this briefly a few months 11:18 ago and have been trying to get hold of some as I have a couple of grass paddocks and I thought it would be an environmentally friendly way to fertilise. Had no idea that it was such an enormous undertaking. Don’t think they would appreciate me popping in for a couple of bags! But such good news and as everyone has said - we really need some.

[@EIixir]

This was fascinating. Thank you for making the video.

[@thecuriouslobster]

You're welcome. Glad you liked it.

[@philipmcdonagh1094]

Wishful thinking that all mines could be like that.

[@Grandpa600]

Its a pity that you didn’t highlight the earlier history of the original mining company, named Sirius, which was formed to make use of this mineral. The reason why Sirius failed was the sheer, unmitigated stupidity of forcing Sirius to invest in the 23 mile long underground tunnel, and thus mushrooming the initial costs before any polyhalite could be mined. If the material transfer could have been made by an overground, low-lying conveyor belt system, costing 100 times les than the truly stupid tunnelling method, the costs could have been within Sirius’ financial grasp. But because of the ‘effing Environment rules, and because the Regulator had literally been ‘bought’ (of course not naming any names at all), the tunnelling method was pushed: and Anglo American walked away with 100 years of treasure.

[@dustbunny2886]

They knew the requirements before they started the mine , seems more like Sirius was formed to do a half assed job at our expense

[@spudman9451]

If the previous organisation cant fullfill modern ecological policies and respect the nature around there facilities then so be it. Let someone else deliver the job.

[@MeiinUK]

And they want to keep everybody's pension pot.. and the stock market etc.... That is why... forever.. we shall be minions...

[@TG-ts3xn]

As if small investors thought they would benefit from investing 😅 People never learn.

[@engineer1003]

I guess over time, investors as a whole do learn and that is why over time the UK is going backwards@@TG-ts3xn

[@jamessergeant8413]

As an expat it’s good to see some positive news out the UK post brexit.

[@manxman8008]

amazing! I watched it again it was well presented and interesting

[@thecuriouslobster]

Glad you liked it again Manxman :)

[@Cdr_Mansfield_Cumming]

I bet the price of food in the UK will still rocket when countries like Russia cut back their fertiliser production, despite this stuff coming from under our feet.

[@TG-ts3xn]

Well yes. The WEF have plans and UK government obeys.

[@a5pin]

let's mention the thousands of people who lost their future, investing in Sirius Minerals, before they sold the mine, hugely under value to Anglo American. It literally was a money pit that sucked a lot of local people's investments into nothing!!!!

[@gordonhoughton3095]

Yes, that part I doubt will get much media attention.

[@KingOhmni]

I was one of them, as was my step dad. Last time I invest based upon being local lol.

[@TG-ts3xn]

Investing is always a gamble.

[@TheAmazingAdventuresOfMiles]

There is an old saying in mining. Invest in the 2nd owner, not the 1st.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

When Cleveland Potash was looking for a site for their mine they considered this area just outside the village of Hawsker. This potential site meant part of the closed Whitby to Scarborough line was left in situ. However, Cleveland Potash decided to dig at Boulby, also within the North Yorkshire National Park. Today Cleveland Potash also produces polyhalite these days.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Yes they were the first to produce it. Around 2011 i believe. Thanks for watching.

[@dalane5196]

Very interesting, good on the UK good to see positive news from the old dart.

[@BIBIWCICC]

And all the profits are funnelled offshore so the,UK public do not benefit from its operation. No revenue = no use.

[@Sarge084]

An overseas based parent company, so Corporation Tax can be avoided, and no doubt tax concessions have been made, and quite probably grants have be given. Looks like the only revenue the Exchequer will receive from this venture will be through the PAYE taxes of the workforce.

[@cuebj]

Been writing similar till I got down to your earlier post.

[@SnakePliskin762]

You'd be surprised how much the landowners, this pipe travels under,are getting paid.

[@theoriginaldylangreene]

How do you think our PM secured his US green card?

[@carlrehnberg4581]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the Kiruna Iron Ore mine is deeper at 1800 meter at the main level, and it is going even deeper now. Otherwise, you guys have a nice project here.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Hi Carl. Do you have a link? I could only find that they were at 1365m as of 2020. Is it a vertical shaft?

[@thecuriouslobster]

I have just received an email back from Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB who operate the mine and they confirmed I am correct. They said this "Currently our official deepest point, e.g to where production is conducted, is at the level 1365 meters below ground. We are going deeper with our surveys for future mining operations but there are currently no production below the 1365 level." Not sure where you got your "1800 meter" from but you are wrong. Maybe that's why you never replied with a link to where you got that figure from.

[@goodcat1982]

No reply from Carl....i wonder why lol. Some people are so weird.

[@carlrehnberg4581]

@@thecuriouslobster I did provide you with a link for them driving down to 1600 meter, and I happily acknowledge that I was remembering the six as an eight. Happy that they answered you and corrected it. I do note that you did not ask them about their expansion to the 1600 level that was referenced in the link.

[@thecuriouslobster]

@@carlrehnberg4581 Hi Carl. Maybe you forgot to press send because there is no link in any of your 2 messages. I emailed them simply asking the current max depth and they said 1365m. Any hoo, it's no big deal. It seems at some point in the future the Kiruna mine will take the throne but not today :) Thanks for watching!

[@piranhafish]

Wow cool🎉

[@alanmcmillan6969]

This is a fantastic project, and the ability to do such good Well done the UK!

[@thecuriouslobster]

Yeah it's a great project. Goes to show this little old country still has a few tricks up her sleeve. Thanks for watching!

[@alanmcmillan6969]

Be proud of our country!

[@no-oneinparticular7264]

Can't this country do anything on its own??

[@andrewfrancis3591]

Rarely, lobbyists and influence peddlers. control this scene. UK companies do not have the bucks to compete.

[@hetrodoxly1203]

Anglo American plc is a British listed multinational mining company with headquarters in London, England. Anglo American has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company has a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

[@TG-ts3xn]

This will annoy the remoaners and Anglophobes

[@giancarlovilla1]

?Why. Remainers are patriots. Brexit voters caused British self harm. You would be hard pushed to find serious businesses that were not warning against Brexit. Seem that the Brexit voters are spending all their time with trying to lay blame for the debacle at everyone else's feet.

[@Kanohoro]

@@giancarlovilla1 I wish I could believe you, but the amount of people (even within the UK) still saying they want the UK to fail because of Brexit is starting to make me think that being patriotic and left wing will be an oxymoron in the future.

[@giancarlovilla1]

@Kanohoro You haven't noticed that we are already the worst performers of the G7, it's a contest between us and Russian. Russia has sanctions from half the developed world against it. The failure has happened already. The government own think tank are now talking about decades to recover, and a permanent loss of 4% gdp. Thats the problem Brexit forecast. Even Nigel Farage has admitted failure. Its just the true perpetrators like Farage are trying to convince the gullible that it's everyone else's fault. Nobody want Britain to fail, it's just frustrating that enough, mainly older idiots fell for the Brexit bs. Now the cowards are pretending that there was somehow a different kind of Brexit. You couldn't make it up. The rest of the world just laughs at our decline.

[@deanb6020]

I love that they have kept it hidden and not disturbed the national park!

[@user-qs8ei9ly2k]

This countries media has missed this fantastic project. But it never fails to miss out trivial news which has no impact on everyone's lives.On the plus side, this is a fascinating project, shame the HS2 project was not run as well.I wish all involved the very best, well done!!😊

[@gringadoor5385]

Could have had Elon drill the shaft for twice the price and take 10x the time.

[@kevinu.k.7042]

This is tremendous stuff. However to claim that this is a very low carbon product is dubious. Clearly the carbon footprint of all of the machinery and the power to drive it are not included in the products carbon footprint. I take it this is a promotional video.

[@thecuriouslobster]

Hi Kevin. No it's not a promotional video. It's all me. I only talk about projects or products i think others will find interesting. It is ultra low carbon though. The process is a very simple one. Mine it, crush it. That's pretty much it. No chemicals involved in the processing so no input from the chemical industry. Because it has 4 nutrients instead of 2 or 3 like other forms of potash, it doesn't need to go through a further blending process with more chemicals to add other nutrients to it. It's right next to a port and because of the mineral transport system no road or train haulage is used. A massive reduction in pollution right there. Most mines would have to transport millions of tons hundreds of miles to the nearest port. These 2 points alone should not be underestimated. Everything has a footprint though of course. No one is saying it's 100% clean, that's impossible. A toothbrush has a carbon footprint at the end of the day. Glad you liked it though. Thanks for watching.

[@mikemines2931]

CO2 is the basis of life on this planet. For gods sake start thinking for yourself.

[@kevinu.k.7042]

@@mikemines2931 Your unnecessarily offensive post is ill founded. Are you not aware that we have issues with excessive CO2 in the environment. Climate change? For you it is not about thinking for yourself, it appears to be more one of thinking at all.

[@mikemines2931]

@@kevinu.k.7042 We have no problem with CO2, pollution yes, I'm one of the few who live dead centre of London who agrees with the London mayor. Tire particulates are more polluting even on electric cars which are far heavier. Nature will deal with CO2 by growing more greenery. Ten years ago I was stupid enough to paint a room white and in three month black smears appeared so I took a sample for analysis, it was rubber.

[@paulpaintshop103]

CO2 is a trace gas, without it nothing will grow, currently 0.04% we used to grow grapes in Scotland in Roman times, hopefully we may do again.

[@badgerservices9665]

I am amazed. This is truly a fantastic project. Why is this not in headlines like the shitty HS2?!

[@ianmorgan9291]

What an incredible undertaking. Great news for jobs and the technology is awesome. This is what the UK needs.

[@FrankFurther]

What the UK needs is to remove the bloody Tories

[@Gudha_Ismintis]

very interesting. well made video - subbed

[@rwkh10]

This is absolutely amazing. Why has this not been on national news.

[@thecuriouslobster]

It's been mentioned on the BBC once or twice over the last decade. Only briefly though and it was mostly financial related news. They should really do a documentary on it. Guess they are busy with other "important" things that they class are in the public interest :). Glad you liked it though.

[@gdfggggg]

The BBC doesn’t like promoting Britains successes. They only like to promote the negatives.

[@ChickenWings103]

This really is awesome! I cant believe I'd never heard of any of this.

[@thecuriouslobster]

You are not alone ChickenWings. Glad you liked it. Feel free to share :)

[@williammuir638]

Very interesting video thank you.😊