A day in the life…

No two weeks are the same, come to think of it, no two days are the same when it comes to ABMEC and I mean that in the best possibly way.

When I had the opportunity to visit ICL Boulby, I jumped at the chance, no hesitation, no apprehension, just a big fat ‘Yes’ When do I get to go?

ABMEC were offered this unique opportunity together with a limited number of members to join Richard Severn at ICL Boulby.

We duly completed our induction and health and safety overview at the gatehouse reception before being granted access to the actual site.

We were greeted by Richard and after a quick coffee and him showing us a map of where we’d be venturing underground, I think it hit the enormity of exactly what we were about to do. For those who mining has been a part of their lives for many years, that may sound dramatic but for those who were experiencing going not only underground but ultimately 1200m under the North Sea…

After being expertly kitted out with our PPE and emergency breathing apparatus by the team at ICL Boulby and armed with several bottles of water, we made our way to the lift shaft and began our descent into the mine, (ably accompanied by Joel Miller C.Eng and Gary Bennison)

You don’t anticipate the immediate impact of the heat replacing the cool air when you’ve reached the mine floor… It’s like when you get off a plane and the heat hits you, just multiply it and add some! We made our way to our vehicles which would transport throughout the morning to the depths of the mine. We were driven out to the underground laboratory and kitted out to go into the clean room (Grade 4 if I recall correctly) and learn more about the search for Dark Matter (amongst other projects – but they are top secret… for now at least – IYKYK) The laboratory is a multi-disciplinary deep underground science facility operated by the UK’s Science & Technology Facilities Council – STFC, working in partnership with ICL UK and the research they are doing is out of this world! Boulby is one of just a handful of facilities world-wide suitable for hosting ultra-low background and deep underground science projects and their strap line is – Searching for Dark Matter in ‘a quiet place in the universe’ You can learn more here: – . https://www.icl-uk.uk/undergroundlab/ On from the lab and further into the mine we went. Seeing and understanding what the amazing team at Boulby do on a day-to-day basis is unbelievable and you can’t help but be in awe of the complete mining process. From mining Polyhalite 1200m underground to producing the final product (and being the only producer globally), to the organic fertilizer – branded as Polysulphate, being sold in 22 countries across five continents. What an experience this was for all of us.

These opportunities are like gold dust, and it is such an honour and privilege for ABMEC to be able to offer them to our members and we are grateful to ICL Boulby, Richard Severn and the whole team for making this happen.

We continue to work closely with other partners and organisations to realise future opportunities for our members and develop the working relationships within the mining supply chain both domestically and internationally.