Children at Ruswarp School have played their part in helping to keep Anglo American’s Woodsmith Project on the road to polyhalite.

The pupils at Ruswarp, which neighbours the Woodsmith Mine, were asked to come up with some suggestions for naming the roads at the mine and didn’t disappoint, with Woodsmith Way, Polyhalite Way, Rocky Road and St Hilda’s Way some of the chosen names.

As a thank you, some of the Woodsmith Project team visited the school on Monday morning, with Heather King, Community Relations Officer, showing the children some of the signs and presenting them with book tokens.

Phillipa Starmer, Area Manager, Shafts at the Woodsmith mine site, and Sarah Blackwell, Customer Marketing Manager, then talked to the children about their jobs working on the Woodsmith Project, a truly unique development that comprises of a mine site just south of Whitby and a 37-kilometre tunnel that will transport the naturally occurring mineral, polyhalite, to processing and shipping facilities on Teesside.

“It is wonderful to see Anglo American engaged in local community projects and their work being around for years to come,” said Miss Brown, Class Teacher at Ruswarp. 

“It was a great activity in which the children could work together and discuss what they felt was important to Whitby and the surrounding area; whilst incorporating the work of the mine.”

"It was great to head down to Ruswarp School to meet and say thank you to the pupils for helping us name the roads at Woodsmith. The kids were really engaged and asked loads of fantastic questions, which was great to see,” said Phillipa.

Sarah added: “It was a real privilege to attend the assembly and meet the potential farmers, agronomists, engineers, and marketers of the future. They were all interested in the connection between polyhalite, as a natural source of nutrients, and how it’s used by farmers to grow healthy and nutritious food, such as their favourite vegetables – and pizza!”