Up to 40 jobs could be safeguarded for a further ten years, minerals company Imerys has claimed, if permission to extend a Newton Abbot clay pit is given.,

It has approached Devon County Council about its Ringslade operation below Highweek on the A382 Bovey Road.,

It believes reserves of ball clay there will be exhausted within four years if current rates of extraction are maintained.,

It wants permission to shift previously dumped material, a move that would allow access to an estimated further 280,000 tonnes which test drilling has suggested is present.,