A COMPANY behind £1.5bn mine plans has extended a public consultation period on the proposals.

Sirius Minerals wants to extract millions of tonnes of polyhalite from under the North York Moors National Park, near Whitby.

Bosses say people have until September 1 to submit comments.

Earlier this month, public exhibitions took place across Scarborough, Whitby and Redcar.

Sirius will present its planning application for the polyhalite development, known as the York Potash project, in September.

It stalled last year when it was deferred to address environmental concerns.

However, the company says the proposals will now be submitted alongside the blueprint for a mineral transport system, which it says will use underground tunnelling to reduce the impact on the moors’ surface.

It had originally wanted to move polyhalite along a pipeline system to port operations at Wilton, near Redcar, through a series of trenches.

A decision is expected in January next year.

Gareth Edmunds, York Potash’s external affairs director, said: “This additional period will provide an opportunity for more comments to be received following the strong interest already shown.”

Sirius already has deals to send millions of tonnes of polyhalite to China, Latin America, the US and Africa, including an understanding with the Tanzanian Ministry of Agriculture for research to support the introduction of polyhalite into Tanzania.

People can add comments at yorkpotash.co.uk/consultation