West Oz EPA accepts Agrimin’s potash enviro plan

Agrimin Limited (ASX:AMN) has seen its flagship Potash fertiliser project in Western Australia start chugging through the state green approvals pipeline as the WA Environmental Protection Authority accepts the company’s environmental plan for the project.

The EPA has accepted the company’s initial ERD, which triggers an EIA process. The EIA is the more thorough bureaucratic environmental review assessing the logistics of the ERD in general. 

Agrimin’s WA-based Mackay potash project is seeking to manufacture Sulphate of Potash (SOP), a water soluble fertiliser. Fertiliser prices are currently at record highs on the back of high energy prices due to the reliance of natural gas in common manufacturing processes. 

That, and, supply shortages underpinned by an ongoing shipping crisis which is only very slowly smoothing out. Major shipping container indexes still remains some 60% higher year-on-year (YoY).

Agrimin seeking to snatch a share of China’s market supply 

Agrimin notes on its website the Mackay project will see it become one of only four companies outside of China to produce over 450,000 tonnes per annum of SOP.

Currently, the EPA’s acceptance of the Mackay Potash project ERD means a four week comment period will be advertised on the government agency’s website through May 2022. 

Agrimin is sitting on top of a thorough pile of documentation and technical study backing up the ERD; the company perceives a full approval on the relatively immediate horizon with shovels likely to hit the ground before the end of the 2022 calendar year. 

Six years of work sees company avoid Federal runaround 

Agrimin notes that it has worked on this documentation for six years already, ultimately outlining what impacts on the project area the SOP development could have, and what steps it will take to mitigate potential impacts on flora, fauna, and other natural assets. 

The acceptance of the ERD sees the WA EPA kick off an accredited process which means that the company will not be subject to a more onerous assessment from the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment. 

The Federal environmental process is ratified in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) which is often criticised for duplicating state approval procedures. 

Agrimin, and its shareholders, will skip out on an EPBC assessment, ultimately shortening the approvals timeline. 

Agrimin's charts over the last year