Bit of a deformed pennant now! But holding steady at c28p. Tempted to buy back in on a down day.

Yes - I guess a slow drift now until some new news appears.

Completed Chemical Assay Results for SM1

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Out of auction -7%

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The only negative that I can see is this :-

Drilling Progress Update

Drilling progress at SM2 (Howlett Hall) has been slowed by a series of fluid loss zones which have been encountered as the hole approached commencement of coring depth. Completion of coring is now expected early in January 2012. The top-hole rig has completed its work at both SM3 (Raikes Lane) down to 669m, and SM4 (Gough) down to 747m and is in the process of moving to SM5 (Waite Lane). Sirius remains in discussions with its drilling contractor about securing a second larger coring rig for the York Potash Project. It is currently expected that this rig could be commissioned and on site around the middle of February 2012. This would significantly increase the rate of drilling and core recovery.

Funding ??????


RNS Number : 1045U

Sirius Minerals Plc

16 December 2011

16 December 2011

Sirius Minerals Plc

("Sirius" or the "Company")

Planning Approvals and Drilling Update

The Directors of Sirius Minerals Plc (AIM: SXX, OTCQX: SRUXY), the globally diversified potash development group, are pleased to announce the approval by the North York Moors National Park Authority of three additional planning applications for drill sites for the York Potash Project and to provide an update on drilling at SM2.

Planning Approvals

In a meeting held yesterday in Helmsley, North Yorkshire, the Members of the North York Moors National Park Planning Committee approved three further drill site applications following the Officers' positive recommendation. The three sites are within commercial forestry blocks so will be largely out of view and will have a minimal impact on local communities.

SM2 Drilling Progress Update

Further to the update provided on 13 December 2011, drilling at SM2 (Howlett Hall) has now passed the latest fluid loss zone. The hole is now 1,164m below surface and the rig is currently preparing to insert the last casing. The cementing of the last casing is the final step before coring of the target zones commences.

By way of background, fluid loss zones are a relatively common feature of drilling into these geological sequences and were encountered in SM2 well above the potential mining horizons. The remedies for this situation are to either pump down viscous materials which plug the gaps or the injection of cement to close them. The cementing process requires the drill string to be removed, which adds to the overall drilling time. Sirius encountered some such issues at SM1, but they did not give the same level of delays as experienced at SM2.

Chris Fraser, Managing Director and CEO of Sirius said:

"These additional sites will help us further define the extent of the world class resource that exists in the area. We continue to progress the drilling phase as quickly as possible and while any delays are naturally frustrating they are a normal part of this style of drilling. Importantly, they do not impact the potential or integrity of the deposit or the potential ease of mining."

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returning to realistic levels :-))))))))))))))

Government set to decide potash plan

RNS Number : 3442V

Sirius Minerals Plc

11 January 2012

11 January 2012

Sirius Minerals Plc

("Sirius" or the "Company")

SM2 Update and Site Visit

The Directors of Sirius Minerals Plc (AIM: SXX, OTCQX: SRUXY), the globally diversified potash development group, are pleased to provide the following update on the drilling of SM2 and to give an overview of today's institutional investor and analyst site visit.

SM2 Update

Since the last update provided on 16 December 2011 Sirius has encountered two fluid loss zones that it believes to be at the base of the final casing at a depth of 1,159m. Two cement jobs have been conducted on this loss zone and drilling has advanced beyond this point to a depth of 1,390m on 10 January 2012. SM2 is expected to encounter polyhalite, including the massive polyhalite beds, below a depth of approximately 1,470m.

Transition to coring of the polyhalite is expected to occur within the next few days and Sirius remains confident of successfully completing coring of the polyhalite beds within a week of commencing coring.

To reduce the risk of further fluid losses and delays occurring, and to mitigate costs Sirius and its consultants have elected to open-hole drill from the base of the casing straight to the polyhalite level rather than coring the sequences in between. Future holes are planned to be cored through the entire evaporate sequence (including the Sneaton and Boulby seams), as was done successfully with SM1.

Sirius' drilling contractors are currently commissioning a second new coring rig with a view to it being deployed in February to speed up the completion of the exploration programme.

Site Visit

Today Sirius is hosting approximately 30 institutional investors, research analysts, and brokers on a site visit to the York Potash Project. A copy of the presentation for this visit will be available on the Sirius website from approximately 10am today.

Chris Fraser, Managing Director and CEO of Sirius said:

"The ongoing delays in coring the polyhalite at SM2 have been very frustrating, but are unfortunately sometimes a feature of this type of drilling. We remain confident of successfully completing coring to the bottom of the polyhalite sequence and of delivering a positive result from this and future holes in the York Potash drilling programme."

yep there was a leak about this over the weekend :-))

Hopefully there may be some indication today about the funding issue. The presentation (as stated in the RNS), is available @10am on here.

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If you are bored.

Skinny, I fell asleep reading it .... zzzz
TT

Directorate change.

Directorate Changes

· Lord Hutton of Furness appointed as Non-Executive Director; and
· Richard Poulden steps down as Non-Executive Director

This sounds like " SERIOUS " good news !


23 January 2012


Sirius Minerals Plc
("Sirius" or the "Company")


SM2 Preliminary Coring Result


§ Two distinct seams of overlapping massive polyhalite intersected

§ 67 metres of total massive polyhalite mineralisation across the hole

§ 33 metres of massive polyhalite in the materially shallower "Shelf" bed that is currently being mined at the Boulby Mine

§ 34 metres of massive polyhalite in the deeper "Basin" bed, as encountered at SM1



The Directors of Sirius Minerals Plc (AIM: SXX, OTCQX: SRUXY), the globally diversified potash development group, are pleased to announce the completion of coring at SM2, the second new borehole completed at the York Potash Project.



Chris Fraser, Managing Director and CEO of Sirius said:



"We are delighted SM2 has delivered another world-class and very significant result for the York Potash Project. The confirmation of two thick and potentially high grade seams, the upper or "Shelf" seam and the lower or "Basin" seam, present us with the exciting possibility of sinking the mine shafts only to the shallower Shelf seam, which would potentially lower the shaft's construction costs and shorten the construction time. This presents an opportunity to significantly improve the project's economics and value to shareholders.



"An important element of our drilling programme has been to add information to, and refine, our interpretation of the deposit and the nature of the polyhalite beds within it. This hole, which we believe to be in the transition zone between the Fordon Evaporite Shelf and Basin, confirms the existence in this area of two overlapping seams of massive polyhalite."



Completion of SM2 Coring



Drilling of SM2 (Howlet Hall) commenced on 2 September 2011, with a successful change from the smaller top-hole rig (which then moved onto SM3) to the larger coring-rig on 8 November 2011. As announced to the market, a series of fluid-loss-zones were encountered during the drilling of the section between about 947 and 1,175m. This slowed the progress of this hole as each loss zone was repaired to enable drilling to proceed. Due to the delays and ongoing losses the decision was made to not core the Boulby and Sneaton sylvite seams. Coring of the critical Fordon Evaporite section was commenced on 13 January 2012 and successfully completed on 21 January 2012, proceeding from 1,412 metres to 1,598 metres below surface with 100% recovery; fully justifying the time and care taken earlier.



Two distinct massive polyhalite seams have been successfully cored. The first in the upper near-shore facies (i.e. depositional environment) of the Fordon Evaporites (the "Shelf"), and then approximately 82m below that, a lower massive polyhalite seam apparently correlating with that intersected at SM1 (drilled further into the heart of the Fordon Basin). The intervening strata consist of mostly very low grade polyhalite mineralisation, containing occasional bands of massive polyhalite with individual thicknesses of up to 1.5 metres (these have not been included in this Summary).



The table below gives preliminary results based on visual examination of the cores in the field. Detailed results will be provided following wireline logging of the borehole, examination of the core under laboratory conditions, mineralogical and chemical analysis.



Summary Preliminary Results - SM2 (collar: 488424.89 E, 506841.87 N, 143.22m AOD)



Polyhalite Seam
Depth from (metres) 1
Borehole Intersection
Apparent Dip
True Thickness
Geological Comments



Sea-Level
Surface
(metres)
(average degrees)
(metres)



Upper ("Shelf")
1,276.58 to 1,310.38
1,419.80 to 1,453.60
33.80
10
33.3
§ Massive polyhalite rock with minor veining and replacement by halite



1,310.38 to 1,392.10
1,453.60 to 1,535.32
81.78




§ Mostly very low grade polyhalite; with halite, anhydrite, and occasional bands of up to 1.5m of massive polyhalite

Lower ("Basin")
1,392.10 to 1,427.56
1,535.32 to 1,570.78
35.46
15
34.3
§ Massive polyhalite including a central section of 7.2m (true) where the polyhalite is veined and patchily replaced by halite and anhydrite


Notes:

1. Depth from sea-level shown due to the varying topography of the York Potash drill sites.

2. Thickness based solely on visual and geological interpretation of the key mineralised zones. Full chemical assays are required to confirm the thickness interpretation and the potassium grades of the mineralisation.

3. "Massive polyhalite rock" refers to the visual interpretation of the cores as being apparently high purity polyhalite. However, grade can only be confirmed with the completion of the full chemical assays.



Preliminary Geological Interpretation



A significant amount of historical data provides the foundation for our geological model. The western edge of the Fordon Basin is known to have been a shallow-water depositional "shelf" in Permian times, in which a condensed sequence of evaporites was deposited. Numerous holes have been drilled through the shelf for gas exploration, and these repeatedly demonstrated the existence of a thick, relatively high grade (based on gamma logs), polyhalite seam.



The main part of the Fordon Basin, as explored by SM1 and historical boreholes, is believed to have been a deeper-water "basinal" depositional environment. It also contains a thick, high grade, deposit of massive polyhalite towards the bottom of the sequence. This was confirmed in SM1, where Sirius intersected the seam, which included an aggregated thickness of 23.3 metres (true-thickness) of 95% polyhalite (27.5% K2SO4).



Prior to completion of SM2 there were two theories as to the nature of the transition zone between these two high grade beds. One was that they were effectively the same bed that was "draped" over the ramp zone interface between the shelf and basin areas. The second theory was that they were two separate but broadly contiguous beds. It is our current belief that SM2 has proved that the second theory of the structure is correct. Moreover SM2 has proved that in this part of the transition zone there are two beds of massive, apparently high grade, polyhalite, approximately 82m vertically apart and that these appear to represent overlapping "shelf" and "basinal" beds.



The implications of this are being analysed, but it is clear that there is potential to construct the shafts down to the shallower (i.e. closer to surface) "Shelf" seam and that this represents a potential to significantly improve the value of the York Potash Project. At a depth from surface of approximately 1,420m, the potential to reduce the costs of the shafts and reduce the construction timeframes of the project are significant. Alan Auld Group, the engineering firm working on shaft designs for York Potash, is now factoring this into the reports it is preparing for inclusion in the Detailed Scoping Study.

For all you people who are asking yourself, " What the hell is Polyhalite, here is Wikipedia's' definition.


Polyhalite is an evaporite mineral, a hydrated sulfate of potassium, calcium and magnesium with formula: K2Ca2Mg(SO4)4·2(H2O). Polyhalite crystallizes in the triclinic system although crystals are very rare. The normal habit is massive to fibrous. It is typically colorless, white to gray, although it may be brick red due to iron oxide inclusions. It has a Mohs hardness of 3.5 and a specific gravity of 2.8.