Redundancies at Anglo American's Woodsmith potash mine

Anglo American has made redundant 70 members of staff at the Woodsmith mine project in North Yorkshire, UK.

The Yorkshire Post reports that Anglo American said in a statement that the change in headcount was ‘relatively normal’ for a large project such as the multi-million pound mine project and added that it had ‘treated our people fairly’ in the redundancy process.

A spokesperson says, ‘We are currently making a number of changes to the way we are building the Woodsmith mine to align the project with Anglo American’s standards and long-term aspirations for Woodsmith.

‘Our new model will deliver the construction of the mineshafts in a slightly different way, meaning some of the roles we had previously are no longer required. While this is relatively normal in a large construction project of this nature, we understand it is difficult for those impacted and we believe we have treated our people very fairly in the process.

‘While this is a normal part of projects like this as we move from one phase to another, this has obviously been a difficult decision. By making these changes now, we are setting the project up for long term success and, as the construction activity ramps up over time, we expect to see the total number of jobs increase substantially, together with the wider economic benefits of our major investment in the region,’ The Yorkshire Post reports.