ICL Boulby, which recently marked its first year since completing the transition to becoming the world’s first and only polyhalite mine, says it is continuing to set new mining records.

General Manager and Vice President Andrew Fulton announced that this week it has achieved its best ever weekly hoist record of 18,449 t as it heads towards its production target of 700,000 t by the end of the year.

Said Fulton: “It is particularly good news that we have been able to deliver our best ever weekly output in the same week we have been visited by the Chairman of our parent ICL company, Mr Yoav Doppelt, to see for himself what we have been able to achieve in the past year and to discuss our long term plans.”

“Backing from ICL has been vital in the continuing programme of investment in meeting the challenge of mining an entirely new mineral and in developing the markets which mean that Boulby polyhalite—marketed as Polysulphate—is now meeting the needs of farmers and growers across five continents, including China, South America, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Kenya, Poland and Romania, as well the UK market..”

Polysulphate contains four vital plant nutrients – sulphur, potassium, magnesium and calcium – and has a far lower ‘carbon footprint’ than many other fertilisers. Matching production to demand, Boulby is aiming to boost production to reach 1 Mt by the end of 2020 and 1.3 Mt by 2023.

As it steps up output the company has also announced that is relaunching its apprentices programme.