THE CENTRAL SCOTLAND REGIONAL GROUP OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Notice of event: Thursday 11th April 2019 Room 5.09a, James Weir Building, Level 5, 75 Montrose Street, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G1 1XJ

5:30pm for 6:00pm

NORTH YORKSHIRE POLYHALITE PROJECT Sue Thomson & David Warburton Arup

Sirius Minerals is a UK based fertilizer development company focused on the development and operation of its polyhalite project in . Over the next five years, Sirius are building the underground mine and construction is well underway at both the minehead site near and at Redcar, in the northeast of England. The infrastructure project includes the construction of two 1600m-deep mine shafts, and a 36km tunnel under the National Park. Arup have been involved supporting Sirius Minerals with the project over the past 6 years, from site investigation and environmental planning to surface and subsurface infrastructure design. This presentation will briefly cover the history of Sirius Minerals and the scope of the project. It will include a summary of the geological setting and information on the polyhalite and the planned mine. As well as further detail of the development of the geological model and understanding the ground conditions for the tunnel and shaft construction, as well as showing the current construction underway on site. More information on the Central Scotland Regional Group can be found on our webpage.

Registered Charity Number 210161 The Geological Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, LONDON, W1V 0JU Tel: 0207 434 9944 Fax: 0207 439 3470 Website: http//www.geolsoc.org.uk

THE CENTRAL SCOTLAND REGIONAL GROUP OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Sue Thomson & David Warburton Arup Sue Thomson is a Chartered Geologist and a Senior Engineering Geologist in the NW&Y Geotechnics Team at Arup, based in Leeds. She has been involved in a variety of local, regional and overseas infrastructure projects in the water, waste, rail and road sectors, bringing geological and engineering knowledge, reporting and organizational skills to these projects. Sue is currently involved in the North Yorkshire Polyhalite Project providing geotechnical and geological advice and support to Sirius for the MTS tunnel ground investigations and tunneling contracts as well as geotechnical design support to the Arup design team for the tunnel access shafts, and deep mine shafts.

Dave Warburton is Sirius Minerals Project Geologist and has been involved with the Project since 2012. Initially being involved with the mineral resource definition drilling campaign, he has also been part of the main 1600m shaft core logging team. During 2014 he completed an MSc exploring the isotope geochemistry (S, O, Sr, D/H) of the Permian Fordon Evaporite Formation which hosts the polyhalite resource. More recently Dave has project managed the delivery of the multi-million pound ground investigation program focusing on the Woodsmith mine site, Lockwood Beck intermediate shaft site and 36km MTS Tunnel alignment and currently supports the wider project team to deliver the North Yorkshire Polyhalite Project.

Registered Charity Number 210161 The Geological Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, LONDON, W1V 0JU Tel: 0207 434 9944 Fax: 0207 439 3470 Website: http//www.geolsoc.org.uk