PROJECT FACTSHEET MINERAL TRANSPORT SYSTEM WHAT IS THE MINERAL TRANSPORT SYSTEM? The high capacity mineral transport system (MTS) is a TEESSIDE HARBOUR FACILITIES fully segmentally lined tunnel which connects Woodsmith Mine to the materials handling facility (MHF) at Wilton on Teesside. The MTS incorporates technology that is well understood, providing a transport system that is reliable, low-maintenance and-low cost.

DRIVE WILTON 1 The extracted polyhalite will be transferred from the production shaft at Woodsmith Mine onto a continuous MTS ROUTE conveyor belt system approx 340m below ground level and carried 37km north to Teesside. The MTS is the most effi cient solution for transporting large volumes of polyhalite from pit to port with minimal surface impact. DRIVE 2 LOCKWOOD BECK The MTS is being constructed with suffi cient capacity to handle up to 20 million

MTS ROUTE DRIVE tonnes per year of 3 polyhalite ore.

N

WOODSMITH MINE National Park

5km POLYHALITE RESOURCE

MINERAL RIGHTS Sirius Minerals has secured all necessary permits to enable construction of the MTS and have also entered into speci c lease agreements with over 50 landowners.

The lease agreements allow for the excavation, the extraction SCARBOROUGH and the removal of any material to create the tunnel void and all works to support and maintain the tunnel and the t out of the tunnel on completion. The lease agreements are for 70 years. North York Moors National Park © Ebor Images

GROUND INVESTIGATION Multiple phases of ground investigation have been completed to provide detailed geological, geotechnical and hydrogeological Illustrative geological cross section — Wilton to Woodsmith Mine information, vertically and horizontally along the length of the MTS route. The data acquired by Sirius has been supplemented by historical drilling data, surface mapping and legacy 2D seismic WOODSMITH MINE survey data. LOCKWOOD BECK

SEISMIC To build up a complete picture of the ground conditions, Sirius has MHF

completed a 2D seismic survey along the MTS route. The survey 360m has validated the existence of known faults and has identifi ed additional, previously unmapped, buried geological features. DRIVE 1 REDCAR MUDSTONE Wilton–Lockwood Beck The MTS will be excavated entirely within the essentially dry 12km Redcar Mudstone. The Redcar Mudstone extends from the DRIVE 2 DRIVE 3 minehead to Teesside. It is soft enough to tunnel through Lockwood Beck towards Woodsmith Mine Woodsmith Mine towards Lockwood Beck effi ciently using a TBM and has the necessary material 12km 12km characteristics to accommodate a tunnel. It’s position avoids water bearing rock and abandoned mine workings which overlay the Redcar Mudstone. 0 Kilometres 37 CONSTRUCTION METHODOLOGY The MTS will be excavated using three tunnel boring machines TEESSIDE HARBOUR FACILITIES (TBMs), launched from three locations – Wilton, Lockwood Beck and Woodsmith Mine. The TBM excavating Drive 1 (Wilton – PRODUCT CONVEYOR Lockwood Beck) will be launched from a portal at the surface. TBMs starting at Woodsmith Mine and Lockwood Beck will require shaft construction, and will be constructed underground DRIVE in a launch cavern in advance of tunnelling commencing. MAINTENANCE VEHICLE WILTON 1 MTS ROUTE TBMs excavate rock with disc cutters mounted in the cutter head. The disc cutters create compressive stress fractures in the rock, causing it to chip away from the tunnel face.

The excavated rock is transferred through openings in the cutter head to a belt conveyor, where it runs through the machine to a DRIVE 2 system of conveyors for removal from the tunnel. LOCKWOOD BECK WHITBY Excavated material will be transported to surface via a conveyor and will then be incorporated into the landscaping of the Project MTS ROUTE DRIVE sites at Woodsmith Mine, Lockwood Beck and Wilton. After 3 excavating a suffi cient length, the machine installs a ring of MTS DIMENSIONS interlocking prefabricated 350mm thick concrete segments. 36.7km tunnel to link the Woodsmith Mine to the port at Teesside The concrete segments will be manufactured at a custom-built facility on Teesside and transported by road to the tunnelling Internal diameter 4.9m (lined) N hubs at Lockwood Beck and Woodsmith Mine. To advance the cutting head the TBM jacks itself forward off the installed Tunnel will contain a conveyor WOODSMITH MINE segmental lining. with a conventional 1,200mm wide trough belt operating at 7.5m/s capable of transporting the full 5km POLYHALITE RESOURCE capacity of 20Mtpa

COMPARATIVE TUNNEL LENGTHS Total combined tunnel length The engineering techniques involved in the construction of the MTS have been used in many tunnelling infrastructure Gotthard Tunnel projects around the world, including several over much longer distances and in more challenging environments. SCARBOROUGH Crossrail

MTS

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 km North York Moors National Park © Ebor Images

WOODSMITH MINE LOCKWOOD BECK

MHF 360m

DRIVE 1 REDCAR MUDSTONE Wilton–Lockwood Beck 12km

DRIVE 2 DRIVE 3 Lockwood Beck towards Woodsmith Mine Woodsmith Mine towards Lockwood Beck 12km 12km

0 Kilometres 37 ALTO MAIPO C620-C630, HYDRO POWER PROJECT, SAN JOSÉ DE MAIPO, CHILE

The aim of the project is the construction STRABAG AG is a of two hydroelectric power plants, Alfalfal global leader in tunnelling II and Las Lajas. The contract performance technologies and a includes the design and construction of specialist in providing tunnels, caverns, earthworks, civil works and technically optimised the installations of hydraulic steelworks. end-to-end tunnelling Several tunnels and shafts will be built solutions worldwide. with a total length of 48.68 km, of which 22.3km will be driven by two TBMs. The Their extensive GOTTHARD BASE TUNNEL, remaining tunnelling method is drill and blast. experience and track LOT 252 AMSTEG-LOT 151 A further 1.65 km of the shafts will be built by record of delivery on some ERSTFELD, RAIL, SWITZERLAND raise boring. of the world’s largest and • 48.68km of tunnel excavation in total most technically challenging The Gotthard Base Tunnel in the Alps has • Two caverns with more than 40,000m3 of projects, including the a key function in transit traf c between excavation material excavation of tunnels and Austria and Switzerland. The tunnel has a length of 57 km. caverns, TBM operations • Two hard rock Herrenknecht TBMs of all kinds and long, deep STRABAG was awarded the tender for • Three million m3 of excavated material tunnels make then the the construction of two of the ve main lots of the tunnel, namely the Amsteg and ideal partner for Sirius. • Construction site situated 820–2,400m Erstfeld tunnels. • Remote location — challenging logistics STRABAG’s recent • Longest railway tunnel in the world (57km) successful tunnelling — to date • Very sensitive natural environment contracts include: • Set-up of a well-organized international • Strabag completed one third of 57km team — over 2,400 employees from more tunnel as sole contractor than 20 nations • 2,765,000m3 of excavated material • 880,000m3 of concrete used • 2,100m of maximum overburden • 46°C of maximum temperature in the tunnel on the TBM in Lot Amsteg

FAQs

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO CONSTRUCT?

Three tunnel boring machines, each starting from different locations, will excavate the MTS simultaneously. Each “drive” will be approximately 12km long. TBMs will advance at a rate of approximately 17m/day with a combined daily advance of ~50m/day (long run average). The MTS will be 36.7km in length and will have an excavated diameter 6m. Once lined the internal diameter of the tunnel will be 4.9m.

WHAT HAPPENS TO ALL THE EXCAVATED MATERIAL CREATED DURING CONSTRUCTION?

Sirius Minerals have strategically purchased suffi cient land at each of our Project sites to accommodate all the excavated material. At Woodsmith Mine and at Lockwood Beck, the arisings will be incorporated into screening bunds around the site. At Wilton, the excavated material will be used to cap the land where our storage facilities will be constructed.

HOW CONFIDENT ARE WE THAT THE MTS CAN BE CONSTRUCTED ON TIME AND ON BUDGET?

Sirius has entered into a design and build contract with STRABAG AG for the construction of the MTS. STRABAG AG are one of the world’s leading civil engineering and tunnelling contractors. The MTS contract is effectively a lump sum arrangement, with fi xed costs for tunnelling advance. The price is based on a defi ned and agreed geotechnical baseline report, with fi rm pricing for a range of expected support classes within the build. The nature of the contract essentially incentivises STRABAG to improve on cost and schedule, any negative deviance within the parameters of the geotechnical baseline report will be at cost to STRABAG.

FACTSHEET: EA85_MTS siriusminerals.com