LONDON, June 18 (Reuters) - Shares in Sirius Minerals, which aims to develop a potash mine in northernEngland, fell by almost a third in early trade on Thursday aftera local authority said its project would be more harmful thanbeneficial to the local area.
The AIM-listed company is aiming to develop a new potashmine near Whitby in North Yorkshire, but needs approval of localauthorities to go ahead with its plans.
The North York Moors Park Authority committee published onThursday a report in which it said it believed the economicbenefits, mitigation and compensation did not outweigh the harmthat would be caused by the project.
The report, however, did not contain any officialrecommendation to the Park Authority members who will vote onJun. 30 on whether the economic benefits outweigh the project'simpact on the park landscape.
The stock pared early losses and was trading down 3.5percent by 1016 GMT but was still underperforming a roughly flat FTSE AIM Basic Resources index
Analysts at Liberum said they still believed the most likelyoutcome of the Jun. 30 vote would be in favour of the minedeveloper. (Reporting by Silvia Antonioli; Editing by Mark Potter)
