NeuRizer contracts to sell half planned urea production

Coal to fertiliser business NeuRizer has successfully contracted the sale of half the initial urea production from its planned Leigh Creek production plant in the northern Flinders ranges area of South Australia.

The company announced that it had signed a binding, five year offtake agreement with Daelim Co Ltd for the supply of 500,000 tonnes of granular urea per year.

The contract, equivalent to half the output of the first stage of the Leigh Creek production plant, has a contract value of around $1.5 billion based on forecast prices.

Daelim is a 9.1 percent shareholder in NeuRizer, and its subsidiary DL E&C is conducting the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of the plant.

Neurizer said the offtake agreements provided the certainty of revenue required for project financing.

The company plans an initial production of one million tonnes of urea utilising feedstock produced by in situ gasification of brown coal deposits at Leigh Creek, which was formerly used for power generation.

The NeuRizer Urea Project (NRUP) is a nationally significant project that will deliver low-cost, high-quality nitrogen-based fertiliser ensuring a secure supply for local and export agriculture markets, according to the company.

More than 1,200 people will be employed full time when the project is operational.

The location has the potential to increase to two million tonnes per annum.

NeuRiser managing director Phil Staveley said: “Fifty percent uncontracted urea supply allows us to remain agile to support domestic demand and take advantage of market pricing.

“The continued global fertiliser crisis made a compelling case for (Daelin) to shore up domestic supply from a reliable and cost controlled source.”

The Leigh Creek project comes at a time when Australia faces urea shortages with the imminent closure of Incitec Pivot’s Gibson Island plant in Brisbane.

Picture: NeuRizer

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