Fertilizer International 528 Sep-Oct 2025
15 September 2025
Anglo sets out path to Woodsmith FID
Anglo American has set out three pre-conditions that would allow its UK Woodsmith polyhalite project to proceed to a final investment decision (FID). These are likely to be met in 2027 at the earliest, according to the company
The conditions were laid out in a statement accompanying the company’s first half 2025 results: “First, a feasibility study would need to be completed, which requires sufficient information from the sandstone strata to confirm key assumptions. The second condition is a clear pathway to syndication for value. Finally, the group’s balance sheet would need to be sufficiently deleveraged.”
Anglo American announced major cuts to capital expenditure on its Woodsmith polyhalite project in May 2024 – effectively mothballing the project – with this declining to $300 million in 2025 and then to zero in 2026, as the company deleverages its balance sheet and looks for an investor/strategic partner to take an ownership stake (Fertilizer International 523, p32).
The Woodsmith mine is located in North Yorkshire, near Whitby, close to England’s North Sea coast. An Anglo American spokesman told the Yorkshire Post in July that construction of the service shaft, the tunnel and other engineering activities at Woodsmith has been continuing since the announced slowdown last year.
He said there are still 1,100 people employed on the project currently, adding: “During this time we are progressing critical value-adding works – completion of critical studies and shaft sinking activities – to de-risk the overall project schedule and further optimise certain scopes of the project ahead of consideration by the board for approval and subsequent project ramp-up, which is anticipated from 2027.”
While the sinking of Woodsmith’s main production shaft was paused in June 2024, sinking of the service shaft through the Sherwood Sandstone formation is continuing. Tunnel boring for the project’s mineral transport system (MTS), while also slowing, has continued during 2025 – and has now reached around 29.6 kilometres, approximately 80% of its total 37 kilometres length.
Speaking during an earnings call on 31st July, John Heasley, Anglo American’s CFO, said the company was gaining valuable information from the sinking of the service shaft into the Sherwood Sandstone, a water-bearing layer of hard rock. “These learnings are setting us up very well to continue to sink one of the two main shafts,” Heasley said.
Heasley confirmed that the company was working towards meeting the three FID conditions for the UK mining project from 2027 onwards, and that discussions with a number of potential strategic partners were going well. “While Woodsmith remains a compelling opportunity and has the potential to be a flagship asset in this portfolio, we only see these three conditions being fulfilled by 2027 at the earliest,” he said.
In its first half results for 2025 released at the end of July, Anglo American reiterated that: “The expected final design capacity [of the Woodsmith mine] remains c.13 Mtpa, subject to ongoing studies and approval. Work is also continuing to identify and secure one or more strategic syndication partners for Woodsmith ahead of consideration by the Board for approval and subsequent project ramp-up, anticipated from 2027.”
Anglo American has earmarked around £300 million for capital expenditure on core infrastructure at the Woodsmith project in 2025, having spent $184 million of this during the first half of the year.
