Sirius Minerals (SXX) has decided to delay submitting a new mining permit application for its York polyhalite project in the North York Moors National Park until July 2014 in order to complete additional environmental work. Sirius withdrew its previous application earlier this year after third party consultants for the park authority said more environmental studies were required.
This is a significant setback for investors as it now looks like there will be nearly another year of waiting for a meaningful development in the permitting process. And even if the project is eventually approved, there are still several other big issues to be resolved such as mine financing and establishing the marketability of polyhalite – despite Sirius releasing an impressive new resource update this week.
