Sirius Minerals has changed its mind

The British company Sirius Minerals has decided to suspend the issue of guaranteed non-convertible $500 million bonds ‘due to current market conditions’.

Earlier this year, Sirius Minerals announced a package of measures to raise up to $3.8 billion. The package included the issue of new shares in the amount of $400 million, of guaranteed non-convertible bonds for $500 million, of guaranteed convertible bonds for $644 million, as well as obtaining a revolving credit facility of $2.5 billion.

Sirius Minerals planned to use the attracted funding to complete development of the Woodsmith mine. Upon commissioning, Woodsmith Sirius Minerals will supply the market with POLY4, its flagship polyhalite-based chemical fertilizer. It has already earned the nickname “potassium chloride killer” for its valuable agricultural properties.

Large deposits of polyhalite have been discovered in the North Sea along the northeast coast of Great Britain. To access them Sirius Minerals will use the Woodsmith mine, which is being built 3 miles south of Whitby. The layers of polyhalite are 1.5 km below the ground and spread over an area of 796 square km, 535 square km of which are located in the marine coastal zone.

At peak production Sirius expects to export 20 million tonnes a year of its POLY4 product globally.