WA snares Plenty from NT

THE decision by Melbourne-based Plenty River Corporation to select the Burrup Peninsula as the preferred site for its proposed $800 million ammonia and urea plant will be a fillip for Western Australian business.

Resources Development Minister Colin Barnett described the move as a “great step forward for the future” of WA as a world class location for petrochemical production.

Plenty River has signed an agreement with Indian company Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited to complete a bankable feasibility study, to be followed by a joint venture to develop a plant capable of producing 190,000 tonnes of ammonia and 760,000t of granulated urea per annum.

An alternative site was considered at Darwin, but the State Govern-ment’s recent commitment to the development of new multi-user infrastructure worth $30 million on the Burrup Peninsula helped sway the decision.

Construction of the plant is scheduled to commence in the third quarter of 2000, with the start of commercial production targeted for early 2003.