A COMPANY behind a £1.5bn mine has signed a five year agreement with a distributor in Central America.

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

The York Potash Project, could create about 1,000 jobs.

The firm already has agreements to send millions of tonnes of polyhalite to companies in China, Latin America, the US and Africa.

Its latest deal would see it potentially supply 150,000 tonnes a year, which will increase to 250,000 tonnes a year in the fifth year of production, to a company with operations in Colombia.

Chris Fraser, the managing director and chief executive of Sirius, said: "This agreement continues to extend the global sales reach of polyhalite and means we are now partnered with an organisation that controls a substantial proportion of the Central American crop input market.

“Our customer commitments now exceed five million tonnes per annum, with additional options for 750,000 tonnes per annum. We are having a number of ongoing discussions with customers seeking to tie down supply agreements for this important multi-nutrient mineral.”