June 19, 2019
The first stage of a long-term plan to expand a duboisia processing plant at Memerambi has begun after Council permission was granted to build a new storage area.
The plant, at the corner of Oil Seed and Postles roads, is used to process duboisia leaves grown on local farms into a range of medical-grade alkaloids used by the pharmaceutical industry.
In April, Councillors voted to sell an adjoining vacant block of land at 13 Oil Seeds Road to the company at market value after receiving an approach from the firm to buy it.
At last week’s Council meeting, Councillors gave Alkaloids Of Australia permission to build a new 4541sq m open-sided shed on the property to store duboisia leaves under cover.
They were told the new shed was part of a longer-term plan to modernise the plant.
Councillors were told that over coming years the company plans to decommission sections of its existing plant and upgrade processing equipment.
Officers recommended a range of conditions on the development to minimise the effects on any nearby residents.
These included a structured program for decommissioning and removing existing plant and equipment; spillage and waste handling procedures; acoustic dampening of road accesses into the plant; minimising lighting impacts; and installing landscape screening along the Postles Road frontage.
The company will also be obliged to pay for roadworks for upgrades to several nearby local roads to handle heavy transports.
On Wednesday, Sonie Crumpton, from Alkaloids of Australia, told southburnett.com.au the frame for the new storage shed had already been erected.
He expected the upgrades would occur gradually over the next 10 years, and had the potential to add 10 jobs to the plant’s workforce.
