The project

The Ashburton Salt project is a solar salt project being developed by K+S Salt Australia. It is set to be one of the most environmentally responsible solar salt projects in Australia and globally.

Ashburton Salt has the potential to produce 4.7mtpa of salt per year. The Project will service the growth in salt demand in the Asia region.

about solar salt

Solar salt is produced by evaporating sea water, using the sun and wind. The existing salt project in Onslow and naturally occurring salt lakes use the same process.

Key milestones in the approvals process are explained below.

Project location

The proposed location for the project is near to the industrial area that is approximately 20km from the Ashburton North Strategic Industrial Area.

Initially the project included an area further south, which had a higher level of interface with the Exmouth Gulf and surrounding mangrove areas. Based on environmental studies and community feedback, we have chosen to relinquish this area.

Environmental approach

The project is supported by a detailed environmental strategy, with the goal of becoming one of the most environmentally responsible salt projects in the world. The overarching environmental strategy outlines many factors, including:

  • Locating the project near Onslow, to minimise interface with the Exmouth Gulf

  • Ensuring an adequate buffer to important mangrove communities

  • Minimising impacts on algae mat communities

  • Not including long-term bitterns (salty water produced from seawater evaporation) storage, instead investigating other recognised best practice methods of bitterns management

  • Minimising dredging of the ocean floor

  • Relinquishing any permits to explore/develop to the south of Ashburton Salt, removing the ability to expand on those environmentally sensitive areas.

    You can read more about our environmental approach here.

Project details

Delivery and operations

Ashburton Salt will be delivered over a three-year period, through $850 million capital investment. This initial phase will provide more than 350 full time jobs.

The lifecycle of the project will be more than 70 years and continue to generate 150 full time jobs. This will generate significant economic benefits for the local community.

Shipping

Shipping will occur directly from site off a long jetty, similar to the salt jetty already in Onslow. No shipping will be occur in the Exmouth Gulf.

Low-draft barges will collect salt and transport it out to sea for loading onto larger commercial ships, meaning only a small berthing pocket needs to be dredged for the barges. No large shipping channel will be dredged.

Roads

All weather access roads are being planned directly from Onslow to the site. The roads will mean employees can travel to site from their homes in Onslow.

Timeline

Ashburton Salt is still in the planning phase and a decision has not been made on if it will proceed or not.

The environmental approvals process started in 2016. In 2017, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) decided that the project would undergo a “Public Environmental Review” (PER) assessment process.

As part of this process, the Environmental Scoping Document (ESD) was open to public comment in 2017 and finalised in early 2018. The studies that are part of the ESD have been finalised and released as part of the Environmental Review Document which is now open for public comment.

The project is currently at Step 14 – Public Comment.