RNS Number : 9104R

Sirius Minerals Plc

11 November 2011

For immediate release: 0700hrs, 11 November 2011

Sirius Minerals Plc

("Sirius" or the "Company")

Results for the Six Months to 30 September 2011

The Directors of Sirius Minerals Plc (AIM: SXX, OTCQX: SRUXY), the globally diversified potash development group, are pleased to announce the Company's results for the six month period to 30 September 2011.

Financial and Operational Highlights

-- Initial results for first drill hole at York Potash announced;
-- One of the world's single largest potash intersections ever reported;
-- Planning applications for the first six drill sites at the York Potash Project approved;
-- Announcement of maiden York Potash resource planned for the first quarter of 2012;
-- The appointment of Peter Woods to the Board as a non-executive director and the appointment of Graham Clarke as Operations Director;

-- Liberum appointed as joint broker and Macquarie Capital appointed as Nomad and joint broker;

-- Cash balance at period end of GBP14.9 million; and
-- Sirius awarded up to GBP2.8 million from the UK Government's Regional Growth Fund, subject to completion of due diligence.

Chris Catlow, Chairman of Sirius Minerals said:

"Sirius continues to make significant progress towards its goal of becoming a major potash producer. The outstanding initial results of our first hole at the York Potash Project have validated our confidence in the quality of the project. We are all looking forward to delivering similar results for future holes in the drilling programme.

"The appointment of Graham Clarke as Operations Director has strengthened the Company's management team. Graham brings with him very relevant knowledge and experience from his 26 years at Cleveland Potash. We look forward to working with him over the coming years to bring York Potash into production.

"The future of Sirius has never looked brighter."

An enticing couple of sentences from the Chairman's Statement!:-

"We announced that we had intersected 81.8 metres (true thickness) of total potash mineralisation across three seams with the hole being terminated while still in polyhalite mineralisation at 1,534 metres below sea level.
It is important to recognise that our exploration target of between 3.3 and 6.0 billion tonnes of polyhalite is based on an average thickness of just 5m of 67% to 94% polyhalite (19% to 27% K2SO4)."

I just hope the core sample analysis comes back with good news. Disappointing data could see this go back down very fast. Am still sitting tight, but may decide to take some profit towards the end of the week......just in case!

Well, had a change of heart & bought some more! Already in profit..........amazing!

And the trading volumes are very high - another 18 million today.
I'd like to hear more on future prospects.

Must be about the best stock on the entire market over the last month.
- up about 150 %

Trouble is, this can't go on forever and it's a bit tricky at present to value SXX accurately, so not sure what a realistic sp should be. Very happy to ride the wave, but finger poised over the 'Sell' button!

Sell a few keep the rest may be the best plan.

Just nudging 30p! Volume still good. (09.08 hrs, 3.8m)

another fantastic day ahead :-)))

end day in 30s hopefully

The critical question, which of course has yet to be answered , is what are the prospects for Sirrius. But, the fact the UK government has put in money via a job ceation scheme is a very good omen.

I've just sold the remainder of my holding @30p - good luck to those still in.

Here is the article from a couple of weeks back which I referred to above.



Potash development firm Sirius Minerals (LON:SXX) received a boost to its plans for North Yorkshire as it revealed it has been awarded up to 2.8 million from the UK government's regional growth fund.

The company is developing the York potash project there and the cash is for a geosciences centre to focus on the latest mineral exploration methods.

Over time, the project in Yorkshire is expected to generate around 1,000 direct jobs and up to a further 4,000 indirect jobs as part of the plan to provide the UK with a long-term secure supply of potash.

Sirius' managing director and chief executive Chris Fraser said that with global population growth placing pressure on natural resources, this research will become increasingly important.

"This centre will help Sirius to have access to the highly-skilled talent that will be necessary to plan, build and operate our mines of the future," he said.

Sirius said its immediate focus for the centre and grant funding was to help the company bring a lot of its global research and development activities to North Yorkshire.

It plans to build a "living laboratory" around the York Potash project, which will allow current and future geoscientists to develop new skills and receive training on cutting-edge, innovative technologies.

"The long-term vision for the centre is to establish the facility as an independent developer of advanced geoscience technologies and services for the global mining industry," the firm said.

The funding is subject to the satisfactory completion of due diligence and was announced yesterday.

Analyst at broker Northland Capital Partners Dr Ryan Long described the new centre as "positive news".

"Advanced research and development centres in Australia such as Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Centre for Excellence in Ore Deposits (CODES) and the Economic Geology Research Unit (EGRU) have worked in partnership with the mining industry forn decades with successful results," he said in a note.

Earlier this month, Sirius revealed the results of the first bore hole on the project in Yorkshire, where it has now successfully cored all three potash seams. All three confirmed what Sirius described as exceptional thicknesses.

According to Sirius this validated the world-class status of the York project. The company is currently carrying out a two rig drill programme on the project, which spans an area between Whitby and Scarborough in North Yorkshire.

skinny, can't believe you jumped ship!!! Anything in particular spook you, or just the 30p target which tempted you?

Harry - the latter - it (and me) have had a good run recently - no harm in taking profits - I hope to buy back a bit lower.

It seems 30 is a bit of a hurdle at the moment with the market down by 50 as well.

Quite a lot of short positions have been closed over the last 48 hours and also shaking out the weak holders! Gonna stick with it for now.

Harry - just to cheer you up Hargreaves Lansdown have their SXX trades this morning as 34.62% sales v 65.38% buys.

Cheers, skinny. Still holding, though mindful of the saying 'buy on rumour, sell on fact' so assay results will be the make or break period, imo. Either way, will probably be out when they hit the press.

while messing around with 'joke' companies like htt % it is always good to see how my good ones are doing - sxx in the latter catgory - there is so much going for sxx - high demand for products - even better in the uk and gov support - and positives from results to date and more expected - it maybe time soon to take a risk and sell to hopefully buy back lower - just cant make up my mind

skinny - well done on your bold step and taking profit - sp already reversed a little since your 30p so maybe you will get back in lower - gl