Agricultural liquid fertiliser manufacturing shed proposed

The facility would be built at an industrial area in the middle of town

The site is at 162 Middle Rd, reportedly purchased for $2 million in 2019.

AN INDUSTRIAL facility for the manufacturing of 5,000 tonnes of urea-ammonium nitrate liquid fertiliser per year has been proposed for Gracemere.

The product would be sold to farms around Central Queensland and Australia.

The application for a special industry and environmentally relevant activity (chemical manufacturing) was submitted to Rockhampton Regional Council this month.

The development is proposed for 162 Middle Rd, Gracemere.

The 2.752ha site has primary frontage to Douglas St and is located within the Gracemere industrial area.

The application, submitted by Gideon Town Planning, stated the proposed land use would have an insignificant impact on the surrounding receiving environment.

The subject site was vacant and was not connected to any urban services.

A development application was submitted to council in April for the site for a transport depot and now in the decision stage.

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The proposed transport depot would be used for the overnight storage of trucks and trailers for Rocky’s Own Transport company.

The manufacturing process of the liquid fertiliser would be contained within the proposed industrial shed with a purpose-built secondary containment system.

The main operation has a 333m2 gross floor area with a 297m2 hard stand area and 108m2 office.

The manufacturing process involved the mixing of potable water with ammonium nitrate solution and dissolving prilled urea into the solution.

Manufacturing UAN does not involve chemical reactions and does not require the presence of an industrial chemist.

The proposed shed structure for manufacturing urea-ammonium nitrate liquid fertiliser on Middle Rd, Gracemere.

Raw ingredients would arrive on site in bulk quantities.

The final product would be stored in holding tanks on the hard stand area next to the shed.

All equipment would be stainless steel due to the temperature and type of materials used.

The product would be transported from site to farms in bulk using tanker trucks.

The operation was proposed to be undertaken 24 hours a day, seven days per week.

It was proposed to manufacture up to 5,000 tonnes of UAN per year to service Central Queensland and the domestic Australian market.

The business aimed to provide diversity to existing industries within the Gracemere industrial area.

It was expected there would be 15 vehicle movements per day including road trains, B-doubles and singles with up to two staff movements.

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Rockhampton Regional Council planning portfolio councillor Ellen Smith said council would be conducting a thorough assessment for this application.

“For council to consider approving the development application we would need to be satisfied that the proposal wouldn’t cause any off side impacts that could generate a ‘nuisance’ to surrounding areas,” she said.

“For example, the site is located near several houses to the east and south east. The developers will need to show that these properties won’t experience a negative impact from the manufacturing.

“The developer will be required to give public notification, and that will allow people to share their support or objections.

“All of this information will be considered before a decision is made as to whether this can go ahead.”

Council officers were assessing the application.

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