The project is estimated at $2.9 bln. A UK-based Sirius Minerals was chosen to carry out design work and excavate the 36.5 kilometer tunnel from the mines, which are under the town of Whitby, to the new berth at Teesside. Sirius representative claims that full capacity of the entreprise is 20 million tonnes.
The tunnel will be dug by means of five hard-rock tunnel-boring machines. As Sirius chief executive Chris Fraser put it, at present, the company is engaged in the financing phase of this world-class project.