Anglo American PLC (LSE:AAL)’s attempted takeover by BHP has prompted concern from an MP in Yorkshire over the fate of the proposed Woodsmith mining project.
Scarborough and Whitby MP Robert Goodwill said over the weekend that he would pressure BHP over commitments to the project if its takeover of Anglo went ahead.
“If this takeover does go ahead, I’d be very keen to have an early meeting with BHP to seek reassurances that this won’t delay the Woodsmith project,” he told The Telegraph.
Anglo rejected BHP’s all-share bid late last week, arguing the offer, which valued the miner at £31 billion, was “complex” and “uncertain”.
Analysts have since said another “sweetened offer” is likely from BHP while speculating that other bidders for Anglo could emerge.
Yorkshire-based Woodsmith, which is predicted to cost US$9 billion (£7.2 billion), was taken over by Anglo in 2020 and will see fertiliser product polyhalite extracted and transported through a 23-mile custom-built road to Teesside including a long tunnel section deep underground.
“They’re ploughing £1 million a day into what will be the deepest mine in the United Kingdom, it’s more than a mile deep,” Goodwill said, “Much of [the tunnel] has been completed”.
Axing the project “would not be an option given how advanced construction is,” he added, claiming Woodsmith would be “the jewel in the company’s crown” were BHP to buy Anglo.