Verdant Minerals: Phosphate rock could supply a third of Australia’s fertiliser

A resource from a remote NT plant has the potential to reshape the fertiliser market, and how farmers think about input spending.

A Northern Territory phosphate rock resource could potentially supply about a third of Australia’s ammonium phosphate fertiliser needs within five years if it gets the green light.

Verdant Minerals is working through the feasibility of turning the largest known deposit of phosphate rock in Australia into a regular supply of mono-ammonium and di-ammonium phosphate fertilisers for Australian farmers, reducing a hefty reliance on imports.

Discovered in 2010, the phosphate rock deposit 200km southeast of Tennant Creek is estimated at more than 1.1 billion tonnes, making it one of the largest in the world.

Verdant Minerals’ Ammaroo phosphate mine in the Northern Territory could supply a third of Australian farmers’ ammonium phosphate fertiliser needs.

Verdant Minerals managing director Chris Tziolis said the company planned to complete a definitive feasibility study by the end of this year to determine the viability of establishing a modern, integrated, highly automated fertiliser manufacturing plant at the mine site.

Known as the Ammaroo Project, it has received Major Project Status from the Federal Government, paving the way for government support.

Mr Tziolis said the company was looking at the economics of building the downstream processing plants required to manufacture MAP and DAP.

If the final investment decision was made next year, it would take about three years to build the plants, estimated to cost more than $2 billion.

Verdant Minerals was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange until 2019, when it was bought out and privatised by its largest shareholder, Washington H Soul Pattinson, in a joint venture with private equity firm CD Capital.

Mr Tziolis said raising capital to build the fertiliser plant could see Verdant Minerals go down one of two pathways.

“One is to attract the fertiliser majors to invest in the project, while the other could see Verdant transform the company to relist on the ASX,” he said.

Mr Tziolis said if the Ammaroo Project received all regulatory approvals and capital was found, Verdant would process enough phosphate rock to annually produce about one million tonnes of MAP and DAP.

He said half of the fertiliser would be supplied to Australian farmers, mostly in Victoria, NSW and South Australia.

“The rest would be exported to key markets, such as Southeast Asia, India, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea,” he said.

Grain Producers Australia director Andrew Weidemann said the nation needed to invest in fertiliser plants to counter security of supply and quality issues with imported products.

Mr Weidemann said, while the fertiliser would be priced at world parity prices, shipping costs would be eliminated, making it slightly cheaper for Australian farmers.