Yara International ASA (Oslo, Norway; www.yara.com) has officially opened the world’s first modular ammonium nitrate plant. The plant’s location is remote, in the desert-like landscape of Western Australia, northeast of Perth.
Ammonium nitrate is the main component of explosives used in the mining, quarrying and construction industries. The plant is currently in the commissioning phase and is expected to be operational by the end of 2016. Destined to serve local iron-ore business with key ingredients for mining activities, the entire production capacity will be used in the Pilbara region.
The plant, developed in joint venture by Yara International ASA and Orica Limited, will have capacity to produce 330,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of ammonium nitrate (AN).
The plant is fully integrated with the neighboring Yara Pilbara Fertilizers ammonia plant, which exports 800,000 m.t./yr of ammonia to Yara plants or world commodity markets.
Yara International President and CEO Svein Tore Holsether said the completion of the world-scale plant was an exciting development in the company’s growth strategy and investment in Australia.
“Yara’s decision to go further downstream into AN production in the Pilbara reflects the long term value we see for our business in Australia and also the proximity of both Yara Pilbara operations to important Asia Pacific markets,” Mr Holsether said.
“We are using Western Australian gas to first create a highly valued product, ammonia, and then undertake further processing to deliver a crucial material for the mining and civil works sector,” Mr Holsether said.
As part of the joint venture Yara will operate the plant and Orica will manage sales and distribution of the product.
The Yara Pilbara Nitrates plant is the first in the world to be built using modularized construction, with key segments of the facility built offshore and shipped to site.