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How the Woodsmith Project supports sustainability

Using innovation and ingenuity to minimize environmental impact, improve farming practices and leave a positive legacy for the future of our community.

Working together with the North York Moors National Park Authority.

Our location, in the North York Moors

Our location, in the North York Moors, and the agricultural nature of our project, means we have a deep understanding of and responsibility to our environment.

The whole design philosophy of our project is to minimise our environmental impact as much as possible – both in construction and operations. We are also conscious that we have the opportunity to contribute to solving a problem that has a truly global scale – how to produce more food to feed the world’s growing population in a way that is more sustainable.

Sustainable design and operations

The polyhalite deposit can only be accessed from within the North York Moors National Park, so we have taken extensive steps to limit the environmental impact of the mine.

We have designed our mine infrastructure to be sympathetic to its location: the number and size of the buildings has been reduced to a minimum, which together with extensive landscaping and planting, will ensure the site is screened and blends in with the surrounding area; and mined ore will be transported underground, in recognition of the sensitivity of the area, to the materials handling facility in Teesside. No mineral will come to surface in the National Park.

Mine location: Protected moorland and prominent sites have been avoided in favour of a location that is away from local villages and uses the natural topography and existing woodland as screening.

Reducing visual impact: The number and height of buildings will be minimized, the shaft head frames will be sunk below the surface, and material excavated during construction will used for landscaping and planted up to shield the site from view.

Mineral Transport System: All mined ore will be transported to Teesside via an underground tunnel in recognition of the sensitivity of the area and the lack of suitable road and rail infrastructure.

Processing outside of the National Park: All of the mined polyhalite will be granulated at Teesside to minimise the industrial footprint inside the National Park.

Simple and energy efficient processing: Every tonne of polyhalite mined is product, due to our simple granulation process with no chemical processing and no waste products.

Minimising construction impact

There are almost 100 planning permission conditions relating to environmental issues for our sites. We have a large team who work with the relevant authorities to ensure we comply or go beyond the conditions to keep impacts limited.

Wildlife and EcologyWildlife and Ecology LightingLighting Noise and vibrationNoise and vibration Air QualityAir Quality WaterWater TrafficTraffic LandscapeLandscape EmissionsEmissions

Wildlife and Ecology Lighting Noise and vibration Air Quality Water Traffic Landscape Emissions

Wildlife and ecology

Most of the possible impacts on wildlife and ecology occur during construction. To minimise them we:

Retain habitats wherever possible to reduce the impact on species and wildlife
Carry out protected species surveys and re-home wildlife as necessary
Implement the agreed Protected Species Management Plan
Position construction lighting away from sensitive ecological receptors. Lighting will be designed using guidance from the Bat Conservation Trust
Not restrict movement along bodies of water
Adopt a precautionary method of working across all of our sites to minimise the risk of harm to wildlife. We will actively encourage reptiles to move into better habitats by removing debris and cutting vegetation that could provide shelter

Lighting

Preserving the dark skies that characterise parts of the North York Moors has been a major consideration in the development of our plans. To reduce the impact of light on the local environment, we:

Strictly control working hours for surface operations during the construction period
Enclose shafts and winding towers to enable 24 hour underground operations without light spill at the surface
Keep lighting at the mine to a minimum during operations and add additional shielding by creating screening mounds
Install shutters on our welfare building, keep car park lighting to a minimum and enclose this area with an environmental barrier to contain light from car headlights
Keep lighting at the Wilton materials handling facility to a safe minimum and contain our main operations within buildings

Noise and vibration

Noise from the type of modern mine we are going to build will be minimised through being located underground. To keep construction noise to a minimum, we:

Ensure that full noise control measures within the Construction Environmental Management Plan and Noise and Vibration Management Plan are delivered
Provide notification in advance of blasting for shaft construction

Air quality

We have undertaken extensive air quality monitoring around all our proposed sites. To minimise our potential impact on air quality, we:

Ensure that full dust control measures within the Construction Environmental Management Plan are implemented
Restrict vehicle movements and enforce a Travel Plan which sets out approved routes for contractors
Restrict the number of parking spaces at the mine site
Comply fully with Institute of Air Quality Management guidance

Water

To protect existing watercourses and minimise flood risk or surface run off, we:

Implement a Surface Water Drainage Strategy in line with the principles set out in our planning application
Use proven Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS)
Apply silt traps, check dams and apply level one water treatment as part of the SuDS
Obtain approval from the regulator for our construction methods to ensure existing watercourses are fully protected
Operate to the highest standards of site safety and good practice construction methods
Monitor surface water flows and quality and report on a monthly basis

Traffic

Working with the community and the local authority to reduce the impact of our work on local roads – particularly during construction – is a priority. To keep the impact to a minimum we:

Implement and enforce a Travel Plan that restricts our vehicle movements and sets out approved routes for contractors
Restrict the number of parking spaces at the mine site
Operate a Park and Ride scheme for those working at the mine to reduce the number of individual vehicles going to and from the site
Restrict parking at the site to those car sharing with at least two other employees

Landscape

Locations for both the mine and access buildings have been selected to ensure that their visual impact is kept to a minimum. Although all of our sites already benefit from existing screening, to enhance this further we:

Provide new landscaping to blend into the surrounding area
Use the material extracted from the mine as we build it to provide landscaped features to further screen the mine and access buildings
Implement measures for the long-term management of the woodlands at the mine site

Emissions

Within the constraints of a large construction project, we are working, together with our contractors, to proactively reduce carbon emissions, through measures such as a reduction in the use of diesel generators and using mains power and LNG instead.

In 2019 emissions totalled 5,491 tonnes of CO2e.

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Enhancing our local area

We provide significant funding to North York Moors National Park Authority, North Yorkshire County Council and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council for environmental, skills and economic development projects.

The measures are included as part of our planning permission (Section 106 agreements) and will amount to £170 million over the lifetime of the planning permission.

Our contributions support projects that safeguard and enhance the natural environmental, improve public footpaths, restore historic monuments, and include a 7,000 hectare woodland creation scheme.

We are also funding programmes to increase skills and aspirations, promote tourism and improve local rail services. Find out more about some of these initiatives below.

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The impact our funding is making

Find out more about all the great projects that have taken place with help from the projects section 106 contributions.

See the live map of projects

Sustainable mining