Melbourne-Incitec Pivot Ltd. said Jan. 5 that it will permanently close its fertilizer manufacturing plant at Cockle Creek, south of Newcastle, on Jan. 16, 2009. Closure of the 95-year old plant will enable the site to be remediated and subsequently sold for non-industrial uses. The site will continue to be used for fertilizer distribution to meet requirements for the 2010 season, or until stocks are depleted. Local estimates were that there might be some 12 months of product in storage. In April 2006, the company announced that it would close the plant by September 2009 to facilitate remediation work. “We will shut the plant earlier than originally anticipated because we have sufficient capacity at our other SSP plants,” said Damian Ziebarth, IPL’s Southern Australia Operations Manager. The phosphate rock grinding mill at the company’s Kooragang Island plant north of Newcastle will also be closed. A total of 20 positions will be made redundant, and seven contractor and casual positions will be lost. IPL is expanding its distribution center at Kooragang Island by building new storage and loadout facilities at a cost of A$14 million. This is expected to be completed by the time distribution stops at Cockle Creek. IPL said it has another distribution center at Port Kembla, as well as a large network of distributors around the state.
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