Boulby's Owners in Talks With Sirius.

[John]

Is ICL selling Boulby to Sirius?? They are in talks with them.

[tygwyn]

Would surprise me a bit,Sirus have made a start on one of the shafts.

[tygwyn]

Offer on the table for Boulby for immeadiate sale.

[John]

I wonder if they will accept?

Going back I said they would be better off buying a share in Boulby.
ICL have been running Boulby at a loss and are divesting a lot of their loss making companies.
They were planning to upgrade the skips to 25 tons once the tower had been replaced,but that didn't materialize.
One problem Sirius will have, the No2 tower needs replacing due to cracks in the concrete, and the ever ongoing shaft problems, been relined near the bottom a few times over the life of the mine.

[tygwyn]

Of course they`ll accept,they`re on their arse,

Although,they may try and make a deal for a small percentage of Sirus.

[John]

As Boulby is now losing money hand over fist, and it now has aging infrastructure, lets say ICL will accept any reasonable offer to get rid of it.

Like I've stated, the No2 tower needs replacing, shouldn't be as expensive as the No1 was, but still more than most companies could afford.

So, if Sirius purchases Boulby, I wonder what the future will be?? Drive a road from the new mine for extra ventilation/increase output, etc? Could turn into a superpit! And Sirius might be able to turn Boulby back into a paying mine, which will provide readies for the new mine??

[tygwyn]

If the purchase goes ahead,which I imagine it will with the money stated on the table,i presume Sirius will work Boulby as it is while they sink the shafts,then its anyones guess what the plan of operation will be,

A driveage from Sirius to Boulby would be a great distance,but in the Polyhalite it will be producing,and I presume a up pitch drivage.

[John]

Sept 21, 2017 16:37:54 GMT -5 tygwyn said:

If the purchase goes ahead,which I imagine it will with the money stated on the table,i presume Sirius will work Boulby as it is while they sink the shafts,then its anyones guess what the plan of operation will be,

A driveage from Sirius to Boulby would be a great distance,but in the Polyhalite it will be producing,and I presume a up pitch drivage.

Not sure about polyhalite Jim, but driving in potash would be a poor choice, whether polyhalite is similar to potash, I have no idea, but a road driven in salt would be the better choice, It is far more stable over much longer periods of time.