Employee incentive awards & Director shareholding

26 June 2017

Sirius Minerals Plc

Employee incentive awards & Director/PDMR shareholding

Sirius Minerals Plc ("Sirius" or the "Company") announces the issue of 7,303,530 new ordinary shares of £0.0025 each (the "Relevant Shares") as part of its employee incentive awards.

A total of 6,177,280 incremental shares have been awarded to an employee benefit trust ("EBT") to manage long term incentive ("LTI") awards for key employees, as recommended by the Remuneration Committee and approved by the board of directors. The LTIs will vest for relevant employees if the Company meets significant milestones, linked to the delivery of its North Yorkshire polyhalite project. A significant number of the Company's employees are set to benefit from these schemes as Sirius is committed to ensuring that employee incentives remain aligned to the interests of shareholders. 

In addition to the shares issued to the EBT, 563,125 ordinary shares have been awarded to each of Thomas Staley, CFO and Finance Director and Nicholas King, who is a person discharging managerial responsibility ("PDMR") as part of their contractual agreements following the achievement of certain milestones ("Milestone Awards").

Director/PDMR shareholdings

The share issues pursuant to the Milestone Awards mean that respective revised beneficial holdings of shares in the Company are as follows:

As a result of the proposed new LTI awards, in addition to his existing LTI awards, Chris Fraser, the Company's CEO and Managing Director has the potential to have a beneficial interest in a further 1,479,452 ordinary shares if the relevant significant milestones are met. Thomas Staley, has the potential to have a beneficial interest in a further 602,740 ordinary shares if the significant milestones are met.

As a result of the proposed LTI awards, the following PDMRs have the potential to have a beneficial interest in the following ordinary shares, in addition to their existing LTI awards, if the significant milestones are met:

Nicholas King, General Counsel 602,740

J.T. Starzecki, Chief Marketing Officer 602,740

An application has been made for the Relevant Shares to be admitted to the premium listing segment of the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority (the "FCA") and to trading on the London Stock Exchange plc's main market for listed securities, and dealings are expected to commence at 8.00 am on 27 June 2017. The Relevant Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with all existing ordinary shares in the Company.

In accordance with the requirements of the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules 5.6.1AR and 5.6.2G, the Company confirms that the enlarged share capital of the Company following Admission will be 4,389,633,265 Ordinary Shares in aggregate, each with equal voting rights. No shares are held in treasury. The above figure may be used by shareholders (and others with notification obligations) as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, Sirius Minerals Plc under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

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About Sirius Minerals Plc

Sirius Minerals Plc is the fertilizer development company focused on the construction and development of its North Yorkshire polyhalite project in the United Kingdom. It believes the Project represents the world's largest high-grade known deposit of polyhalite, a multi-nutrient form of potash containing potassium, sulphur, magnesium and calcium. Incorporated in 2003, Sirius Minerals Plc's shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange's Main Market. Further information on the Company can be found at: www.siriusminerals.com.