BCI Minerals vents over protracted Federal approval process for $1.4 billion Mardie salt project

The company chief executive behind Australia’s biggest solar salt project has joined other bosses in raising concern about a two-sided government approvals process that is delaying mining and energy ventures around the country.

BCI Minerals’ David Boshoff says lengthy Commonwealth evaluation of the group’s $1.4 billion Mardie salt and potash project in WA’s Pilbara threatens to delay production from what Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek last year lauded as a potential “game changer“ in the energy transition.

Ms Plibersek’s ministerial approval in September enabled Mardie to begin operations by filling the first three of its nine evaporation ponds with seawater.

However, BCI cannot complete development until her Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water approves a groundwater monitoring and management plan that has now been resubmitted 15 times to address new questions from the department. The company revealed on Friday that the WA Government had signed off on the plan.

“There’s this perpetual cycle of bureaucracy that continues to roll forward without a commitment about when things are going to happen,” Mr Boshoff said on Tuesday.

BCI, 36 per cent owned by WA businessman Kerry Stokes’ SGH, is worried that the protracted Federal approvals process could delay the flooding of its other ponds, thereby threatening its target of shipping first salt from Mardie by the end of 2026.

There is also the risk that any delays will force the company to renegotiate its $490 million loan from the Federal Government’s Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, the financing agency tasked with backing developments in the top of Australia.

“We need to progress at a certain pace to meet our debt requirements. If we can’t do that, we need to go back to NAIF, negotiate with them and get an extension on some of our deadlines,” Mr Boshoff said.

“You have two Federal bodies, one providing funding and putting deadlines on that the other can’t meet.

“It becomes a bureaucratic merry-go-round.”

BCI’s concerns echo those of other company chiefs, notably Woodside Energy’s Meg O’Neill, over what industry perceives as overly long and duplicated Commonwealth approvals for Australian resources projects.

Critics say the Commonwealth’s approach is at odds with States including WA, where the Government has sought to accelerate environmental and regulatory approvals, while cutting red and green tape.

“The State Government has been good working with us, they’ve been constructive with turnaround times, they’ve met their commitments,” Mr Boshoff said.

In contrast, the Commonwealth “lack an ability to make a decision”.

“The State Government has approved (the groundwater monitoring and management plan), the risks are the same, we’re talking about the same water . . . we don’t understand why multiple approvals are needed,” Mr Boshoff said.

“There’s a bureaucratic process here that is misaligned with the needs of the State. The State Government is getting it right, but we are not seeing the same approach from the feds. And that’s true with all projects.”

Mardie will use solar and wind evaporation to produce salt from seawater for use in products and applications including glass, paint, water purification, paper and building materials.

The project will also turn out sulphate of potash for use as fertiliser.

Announcing ministerial approval of Mardie last year, Ms Plibersek said “projects like this show we can support industry while also protecting the environment”, citing its use of renewable energy.

“If we get to the stage of batteries that rely on salt, that will be an absolute game changer, but we know that even today salt is absolutely necessary in a whole range of industrial processes, so this will be an important project for Australian industry but also for export,” she said.