Whitby Branch: Developer funding for improvements? What happened?

[davetheguard]

I'm sure I remember reading a year or two back, about some developer funding becoming available -a potash mine?- that would pay for an extra passing loop and/or some significant frequency enhancements on the line. Anyone know anything more about this?

 

[ainsworth74]

Yes I recall this. The project is being developed by Sirius Minerals to extract polyhalite for use creating fertiliser and work is ongoing. There won't be any extra traffic on the railway itself as a result of the mine however as they're using a tunnel to get material to Teesport:

All mined polyhalite will be transported underground to the materials handling facility on Teesside on the low impact mineral transport system (MTS), located in a 37km long and 4.3m wide tunnel at an average depth of 250m below ground. It incorporates a high-capacity conveyor belt system capable of transporting 20 Mtpa of polyhalite at 7.5m/s. The technology involved is well understood and widely used in underground mines around the world.

However what I haven't heard about is whether anything ever came of that funding or if it was just something that was proposed but never taken forward.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

This was a previous thread.
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/esk-valley-line-enhanced-services-whitby-potash-mine.147832

I recall that the money was intended for improved passenger rail services (but no details provided) and that if that proved too difficult the monies could be spent on other 'good deeds' in the area.

Will the council a) give the money to Network Rail / Northern, or b) keep hold of it and spend it on itself?

 

[Killingworth]

Latest news from Sirius here; http://siriusminerals.com/latest-news/

They were having difficulties with finance but seems the first tunnel boring machine is ready to be transported from Germany fairly soon.

 

[WatcherZero]

The reason they were having trouble was they discovered the ground wasnt as firm as they initially thought meaning the tunnel had to be 2ft wider with extra thick walls to increase strength, that added about £450m or about 20% to the cost. The government commitment was also smaller due to the reduced financial viability, they only agreed £900m of government backed loans rather than the £1.5bn they asked for.

 

[deltic08]

How long will it take to bore a tunnel 23 miles long from one end only? They will have to bore under the River Esk and what is happening to the spoil?
I hope there is a constant long term export market for polyhalite?
What is their backup if the underground conveyors fail for any length of time?

 

[ainsworth74]

How long will it take to bore a tunnel 23 miles long from one end only?

They aren't going from one end:

The tunnel will be constructed using three tunnel boring machines (TBMs) which will be deployed from Wilton, the mine site and Lockwood Beck. Two TBMs will meet around the midway point between Lockwood Beck and Woodsmith Mine.

They will have to bore under the River Esk and what is happening to the spoil?

Regarding the river I believe this should answer that question:

The vertical alignment of the tunnel will be located within the low permeability Redcar Mudstone strata. Geotechnical conditions along the route have been assessed from a combination of existing geological knowledge, surface mapping, existing geophysical surveys and 12 boreholes along the length of the route. The selected route avoids shallow aquifers and any abandoned iron stone mines in the Esk Valley and Guisborough areas.

And for the spoil:

Sirius Minerals have strategically purchased sufficient land at each of our Project sites to accommodate all the excavated material. At Woodsmith Mine and at Lockwood Beck, the arisings will be incorporated into screening bunds around the site. At Wilton, the excavated material will be used to cap the land where our storage facilities will be constructed.

I hope there is a constant long term export market for polyhalite?

And regarding the market:

Sirius has already secured aggregate peak contracted take-or-pay sales of 8.2 Mtpa in Southeast Asia, China, Africa, North America and South America. These customers have agreed to buy a minimum amount of POLY4 once production begins and pay a given price.

The global fertilizer market for the component nutrients in POLY4 is substantial with a value of $190 billon in 2016 and predicted to reach a value of $245 billion by 2020. At full production, this means that POLY4 would only account for up to 4.5% of the global market.

The market opportunity for POLY4 is framed in three key areas – as a substitute for existing products, to meet unmet market demand for high-value products and to provide premium performance.

(POLY4 is the branding for product that they'll create out of the polyhalite)

All of that information is available on their previously linked website without too much poking about.

What is their backup if the underground conveyors fail for any length of time?

Now that's the one thing I've not found an answer too but they seem fairly confident in the technology. Though I suppose it's no different to any other mine really. What would happen to Boulby if there was a landslip that blocked the railway at Grinkle Tunnel? Or, back in the day, if there was a problem with the Merry-Go-Round trains for a coal mine? Etc, etc.