Ardmore Phosphate Rock Project enters voluntary administration, 150 jobs at risk

Centrex’s Ardmore mine has entered voluntary administration, putting 150 jobs at risk, after the CEO warned high railway freight costs were crunching the site’s bottom line. Read more.

Centrex's Mount Isa phosphate mine is located near Dajarra, less than two hours drive from Mount Isa.

Centrex’s phosphate mine in Ardmore, 120km outside Mount Isa, has entered voluntary administration, putting 150 jobs at risk.

The move comes after Centrex CEO Robert Mencel warned in January that exorbitant rail freight costs were crunching the mine’s bottom line.

On Tuesday, March 4, Centrex announced it and its subsidiary’s AgriFlex had entered voluntary administration, appointing John Park and Joanne Dunn of FTI Consulting.

Centrex and AgriFlex will “continue to operate” while possible restructure options are assessed.

The Ardmore Phosphate Rock Project mine is the highest-grade phosphate mine in Australia, supplying phosphate to Australian and New Zealand farmers.

The phosphate rock processing plant established by Centrex at Ardmore.

Phosphate is an essential ingredient in all fertilisers.

However, the mine’s isolated location south of Mount Isa means there is a massive transport bill to get the phosphate to the Port of Townsville via freight operator Aurizon and Queensland Rail.

An Aurizon freight train. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

Traeger MP Robbie Katter said the Mount Isa-Townsville rail line was the only track in Queensland that wasn’t subsidised in some way.

“Centrex is another casualty of government and bureaucracy … you couldn’t have a bigger example of the government doing a worse job with managing its utilities,” he said.

Mr Katter said the fact that Centrex has been forced into voluntary administration because of rail freight fees was “a canary in the coal mine” that without serious effort to fix the cost of power, water and rail in the northwest, the region could collapse.

“I’ve met with seven transport ministers now and I told them all that this would happen eventually,” Mr Katter said.

“Now here we are.”

Mr Katter is demanding an “immediate restructure” of the way the government manages the Mount Isa-Townsville rail line.

Centrex was contacted for comment.

In January, CEO Robert Mencel said 70 per cent of the company’s operational costs were in transporting its phosphate to the Townsville Port, a third of which were government related charges.

The Adelaide-based Centrex started out as Centrex Metals in 2002, where it developed several iron ore projects in South Australia.

Centrex CEO Robert Mencel

In 2015, Centrex diversified into phosphate and in 2017 acquired the Ardmore Phosphate Rock Project from Incitec Pivot outside Mount Isa.

CEO Robert Mencel was appointed in 2021 after working at RONPHOS Corp., the Republic of Nauru’s phosphate company.

Centrex also has a potash mine in WA and a ‘polymetallic’ mine in NSW.

Originally published as Ardmore Phosphate Rock Project enters voluntary administration, 150 jobs at risk