Christchurch-Ravensdown, the New Zealand cooperative that claims to supply half of the fertilizer to the country, is now looking a some 500 hectares of old phosphate reserves in the Clarendon Hill/Wilton area. Based on previous analysis it estimates that some 34 million mt of phosphate rock may be available – enough for some 22 years. Ravensdown says the country currently imports 1 million mt, which is made into 1.7 million mt of super phosphate. Ravensdown also says the rock has very low cadmium levels. Ravensdown says the deposit has not been tapped since World War II, when the Japanese shut off the country’s ready access to product from Nauru.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain