EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
Company
Pyramid Salt Pty Ltd (“Pyramid Salt” or the “Company”)
is a high profile salinity management company displaying excellent
revenue growth potential and strong product development opportunities
that provide both import replacement and diversified national
and international sales opportunities. The Company was formed
in 1991 in Regional Australia to research and develop methods
of land desalinisation through groundwater pumping & commercial
solar salt production.
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Aerial
View of
Pyramid Hill Site Victoria |
Technology
The Company has developed technology for the pumping of groundwater
from areas of high groundwater salinity with this groundwater
fed through a series of condenser ponds with gradually increasing
brine content and then to crystalliser ponds in polyhouses from
which very high quality salt is harvested. Salt purity is close
to pharmaceutical and food quality. After harvesting, the salt
is refined and packed for commercial sale.
A major problem facing the environment and the Australian agricultural
industry is salinity. There is an acceptance by both government
departments and the industry sector that the developed technology
will play an important role in combating salinity in the Murray
Darling Basin.
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Aerial
View of Crystalliser Pond Pyramid Hill Site
Victoria |
THE BUSINESS
ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT
Introduction
Prior to European occupation, the billions of tonnes of salt
in the Murray-Darling Basin were stored in the geological
profile. However, the introduction of land clearing and inefficient
irrigation methods by European settler farmers increased recharge
to the groundwater systems. Consequently the water tables
have risen and mobilised the previously dormant salt. The
result has been the salinisation of large volumes of groundwater
and an increased discharge of natural and induced saline water
to the rivers, lakes and agricultural land.
When the saline watertable reaches within about 1 metre of
the ground surface, capillary action causes the salts to be
drawn to the surface thus accumulating through the evaporation
in the topsoils. Depending on the concentration of these accumulated
salts in the topsoil, they can result in degradation ranging
from reduced productivity to the inability of the soil to
support any vegetation at all. A recent audit of the Murray
Darling Basin indicated “Between 3 and 5 million hectares
of land in the eastern and southern regions of the basin will
be salt affected within 50-100 years” if remedial steps
are not taken to reverse this process. The Murray Darling
Basin incorporates 75% of Australian irrigation and provides
over 41% of Australia’s gross value of agricultural
production.
It has long been recognised that lowering and maintaining
the water table below 1.5 – 2.0 metres could reverse
this salinisation process. Lowering of watertable can be achieved
by groundwater pumping from shallow aquifers. The problem
that existed was what to do with the groundwater pumped for
such purposes.
A chance meeting between John Ross and Gavin Privett in 1991
led to the establishment of Pyramid Salt Pty. Ltd. The company
was formed to research and develop methods of land desalinisation
through groundwater pumping and commercial solar salt production.
Board of Directors
John Ross and Gavin Privett are the current directors of Pyramid
Salt Pty Ltd.
Key Personnel
Managing Director
John Ross has operated as Managing Director providing management
functions from his Melbourne office.
John has a strong background in company management, sales
and public relations. John is currently Managing Director
of Ross Hunt Real Estate, a well-established real estate company
focusing on body corporate management.
Operations and Technical Manager
Gavin Privett provided day-to-day management, business development
plans, product development and technology development for
Pyramid Salt Pty Ltd.
Gavin is an industrial Chemist with a background in extractive
chemistry in the industrial, mining and chemical industry.
He has a strong (some 15 years) background in salt production
and has travelled extensively in Australia and overseas studying
salt production operations.
Established Operations
The established operation is located 12km west of the township
Pyramid Hill in Northern Victoria. The facility is sited on
128Ha of land owned by the company. Within this facility an
office, laboratory and warehousing is established.
The facility incorporates:
Pumping System
At the site 12 bores have been developed with a delivery capacity
of 1.5 mega litres per day. The water from these bores is
pumped directly into the evaporation system. A further pumping
site, partially funded by the Victorian Government ‘Water
for Growth Initiative’, consists of 10 bores with a
delivery capacity of 1.3 mega litres per day and is established
3.5km to the west of the site. The water from this bore field
is transported by means of a pipeline to the evaporation system.
Evaporation Pond System
The evaporation system is a series of ponds where the saline
water from the bores is pumped into an initial pond. Due to
solar evaporation, the salt density is increased. When salt
density reaches certain levels the brine is transferred to
the next pond ultimately ending in the crystaliser pond where
salt crystals are formed.
The evaporation system consists of the following solar
ponds:
 |
Polythene-lined |
| |
15
x 1Ha Concentrator Ponds |
| |
1
x 1 Ha Crystalliser Pond |
|
Non
– Lined |
| |
7
x 1Ha Concentrator Ponds |
| |
1
x 1 Ha Crystalliser Pond |
Salt
Processing Facility
Equipment has been installed and is operational for the washing,
drying, screening and bagging of salt.
Salt
Refining
12 poly- houses (70mx12m) have been constructed specifically
to produce a high quality of salt for the food industry. For
the production of speciality gourmet flake salt, 15 purpose
built machines have been installed.
Solar
Pond
The 3000 square metre solar pond is integrated into the pond
evaporation system. The pond has heat exchangers installed
and is used for delivering a continuous 60 KW energy load
in the form of heat to the flake salt drying process.
CORPORATE OBJECTIVES
Vision
“To be the international leader in commercial salt production
that delivers solutions for sustainable agricultural and environmental
management.”
Mission
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Keep
across salinity problems internationally |
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Highest
quality sale at commercial cost delivering profitable
|
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International
transfer |
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Government
regulatory support and endorsement |
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National
and international markets |
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Highly
trained personnel |
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National
and international information – dissemination |
Values
|
Integrity
always |
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Fairness
in Dealing |
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Community
improvement |
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Valuing
staff |
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Financial
achievement with prudence |
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