An eastern state in Australia will be host to a one million square foot greenhouse facility as a result of a strategic partnership between MYM Nutraceuticals and PUF Ventures. Located in New South Wales, the Northern Rivers project will be in combination with the Richmond Valley Council, a local government within the state is working closely with the partnering companies to produce the greenhouse.
The one million square food greenhouse will house office facilities and processing for cultivation, large scale manufacturing for crops and the production and manufacturing of medical cannabis and similar products. The greenhouse is predicted to earn between C$800 million and C$1.1 billion and produce around 100,000 kilograms of high quality cannabis per year.
Over the past few years, Australia has introduced new progressive medical marijuana laws and are considered about four years behind Canadian legislation on the topic. The project is slowly moving forward and if legislation on recreational cannabis will become legal for the Australian population of 24 million people, the market for recreational use will grow to around C$9 billion over the next 7 years. As MYM and PUR would be one of the first large scale production facilities in Australia, the market has a high revenue potential and the direction of which MYM entered the partnership with PUF and a local land owning government causes it to increase its chance to become a national and international industry leader.
The Northern Rivers Project deal includes the opportunity to purchase the land of 27 hectares near the town of Casino in northern New South Wales. The council of Richmond Valley has strongly supported the growth action and new vision implementation of the Northern Rivers Project as it provides economic stimulus to the local area. The purchase agreement allows the facility to run with next to no costs for land use over the first five years and an option to buy the land in the fifth year of operations. The deal is favourable as operating the project in sync with a local government will allow for further success in the future when the legislation processed; not to mention that having the largest medical cannabis facility in the southern hemisphere is going to bring a number of investments, research projects, education, jobs, manufacturing, tourism and more. The project is expected to create 300 new jobs in the local economy and lead to other new expansions in the area leading to regional employment opportunities.
Construction of the plant is estimated to cost around C$50 million with the first phase of the project covering around 300,000 square feet, which will make it the biggest medical cannabis greenhouse in Australia. Assuming that all paperwork, construction timelines and permits are approved, the first crop will be planted in the fourth quarter of 2018. Investments in the project are expected to come from both local and international partners.
Looking at the current market for high quality cannabis in Australia estimes that the price per ounce will be between C$227 and C$315 or C$8000 and C$11,000 per kilo. MYM suggests that their figures could fluctuate but will generally increase due to a higher margin and high quality medical cannabis product. “Entering into this partnership is yet another step towards building MYM into a global leader in cannabis production. Getting in on the ground level of a market as large as Australia represents a massive opportunity for MYM,” said Rob Gietl, CEO of MYM. “Our experience in dealing with all levels of government will certainly pay off, as there are many similarities between the Weedon, Québec project and the Northern Rivers Project in New South Wales.”
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