Skip to main content

Sulphur 418 May-Jun 2025

3 May 2025

Investment to boost phosphate project

Investment to boost phosphate project

Avenira has secured an A$7.56 million strategic investment from majority shareholder Hebang Biotechnology to progress its Wonarah phosphate project in Northern Territory. The investment, in which Hebang will acquire 1.08 billion shares priced at A$0.007 each, will boost its equity holding in Avenira to 49%. Hebang has also agreed to provide Avenira with an unsecured drawdown loan facility to be repaid on completion of the placement or after the date of the first drawdown.

Avenira will use funds from the investment to advance its Wonarah phosphate project, located between Tennant Creek and Mount Isa. Wonarah is considered Australia’s largest high-grade phosphate project and Avenira plans to develop it as a direct shipping ore (DSO) operation based on a simple open-cut mining operation with processing facilities onsite. Avenira intends to supply premium-quality products from Wonarah, including lithium iron phosphate (LFP), thermal phosphoric acid (TPA) and yellow phosphorus, into the electric vehicle, agricultural and industrial chemical markets.

Latest in Agricultural

Dangote to fund new urea plant

Aliko Dangote, self styled “Africa’s richest man”, has signed a $2.5 billion partnership with the Ethiopian Government to build one of the world’s largest single-site fertiliser plants in Gode, Somali Regional State. The was signed on August 28th by Dangote Group and Ethiopian Investment Holdings, the government’s strategic investment arm. Under the agreement, Dangote Group will hold a controlling 60% equity share, with EIH taking the remaining 40%. EIH says that the facility will be “among the top five largest urea production complexes globally… with production facilities boasting a combined capacity of up to three million metric tons per annum.” The project will take gas feedstock via pipeline from the Calub and Hilala gas fields, with provisions for future expansions into ammonia-based fertilisers.

Green ammonia plan for Scotland

Norwegian state-owned power group Statkraft says that it is moving ahead with plans for a 400 MW green hydrogen and ammonia production facility in the Shetland Islands, after securing a land lease near the disused Scatsta Airport. Known as the Shetland Hydrogen Project 2, the facility will use electrolytic hydrogen to produce green ammonia for a range of industrial applications, including use as a sustainable marine fuel and to help decarbonise fertiliser production.

Joint venture for green ammonia project

L&T Energy GreenTech Ltd (LTEG), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro (L&T), has entered into a joint development agreement with Japan’s Itochu Corporation of Japan to develop and commercialise a 300,000 t/a green ammonia project at Kandla in Gujarat state. Under the agreement, LTEG and Itochu will collaborate on the development of the green ammonia facility, with Itochu planning to offtake the product for bunkering applications in Singapore.

Green ammonia project proposal

The Namibian mining town of Arandis is reportedly in discussions with Cleanergy Solutions Namibia concerning a $2.85 billion investment to develop a large-scale green ammonia production site at Aran-dis, targeting production of 200,000 t/a of ammonia in the first phase based on abundant local solar energy. The Aran-dis Town Council approved the project in 2024 and is in the process of acquiring 2,400 hectares of land for the project, which is subject to the award of an Environmental Clearance Certificate, expected in the second quarter of 2026. The construction phase of the project will begin in 4Q 2026, with operations due to begin in 2030. Local infrastructure development will include pipelines and storage tanks for water, hydrogen and ammonia, as well as port, railway, road and power infrastructure, and may include handling and storage facilities. Cleanergy Solutions is a joint venture between Olthaver & List and Belgian company, CMB.TECH. It has operated a green hydrogen pilot project near Walvis Bay since 2024.

Coal based fertilizer and methanol plant proposal

Suiso, a South African company specialising in blue ammonia production, is set to invest $1.7 billion in a coal-to-fertiliser facility in Kriel, Mpumalanga in the east of South Africa. The proposal is for a 1.5 million t/a ‘blue’ ammonia-urea plant which will replace South Africa’s annual imports of 1.2 million t/a of urea, as well as producing 235,000 t/a of blue methanol for fuels, using advanced decarbonisation and carbon capture technologies. Suiso is partnering with Sinopec Ningbo Engineering, Stamicarbon, and ETG – the latter will distribute Suiso’s fertilisers across Africa, supporting local agriculture and long-term food security.