By TOM HAYES
OMNIA Specialties Australia’s Morwell-based plant has been labelled a “hidden gem” by Member for Morwell, Martin Cameron, highlighting the potential global success that awaits the business.
Omnia is a leader in not just Australia, but the world, in the development and manufacturing of fertilisers and biostimulants. Its wider range is used globally to improve plant and soil health, and crop yields, in a sustainable way.
Omnia is a South African-based company as a listed entity in Johannesburg. However, the importance of Morwell’s plant is next level.
Despite the level of its development, Omnia has flown under the radar as a locally-based business, positioned on Tramway Road between Morwell and Churchill, with many locals unaware of what the plant is used for.
However, Omnia recently had the spotlight shine upon them, due to the global demand for their fertiliser coat, reaching as far as Europe and the Americas.
Omnia purchased the technology from HRL Technologies more than 20 years ago, who originally worked on extracting elements from brown coal. From the purchase, Omnia leased the plant from HRL, before buying it due to expansion to meet the growing volume just seven to eight years ago.
Speaking with the Express earlier this month, Omnia Specialties Australia Managing Director, James Freemantle explained the research and development that the business conducts, and what the future could possibly hold.
“The whole business is really based around taking leonardite – which is like a weathered brown coal. That’s waste for (the power stations),” he explained.
“We take that layer… bring it on-site here and we extract an organic acid called humic acid… into a very concentrated form to make products out of that, that really work along soil conditioning, nutrient efficiency, and help overall soil structure.”
Omnia has a contract with the Latrobe Valley coal-fired power stations, undertaking geological testing before extracting.
With coal mining set to be a thing of the past, Omnia has already looked toward the future, hoping to keep efficient fertilisers a thing of today.
“The thing is, Latrobe Valley is so rich in this stuff, so it won’t run out from the resource being there, what will be is how we get access to it,” Mr Freemantle said.
“What we need will still be there (when coal-fired power stations stop operating), we could just extract it ourselves, work with the government to get a licence.”
The humic acid product is used as a coat for fertilisers, or an ingredient to increase fertiliser efficiency.
“We are a humate-based company, working in the biostimulant field. From that we’ve evolved into a full range of crop nutrition products,” Mr Freemantle added.
“We say we operate in the soil health, crop nutrition space, and now we’ve gone into seaweed extraction as well, turning kelp from Tasmania into a concentrated liquid.”
Omnia’s Morwell site is described as the global hub for biostimulants, while on-site is where much of the company’s research and product development is. The Morwell site is heavily involved in research, collaborating with companies from Africa and the US, Brazil, and the United Kingdom.
During a recent tour of Omnia’s facilities, Mr Cameron said: “it’s another prime example of just how valuable and resource rich our coalfields are, and the impact they can have on the state’s economy, and it’s all done right here in Morwell.”
“This is exactly the sort of industrial development the state government needs to back instead of letting our brown coal go to waste because of ideology and politics.”
Member for Eastern Victoria, Melina Bath joined Mr Cameron on the tour of Omnia’s facility.
“I can’t imagine there are too many specialised Morwell products being marketed as far afield as North and South America on this scale,” she added.
“This remarkable good news business is going from strength to strength, which is a win for Morwell and the Latrobe Valley, a win for the importance of our coalfields, a win for our farmers, and an opportunity with an incredible future.”
With growing global populations comes a growing demand for food. The growing demand for food means there is becoming less and less land to grow crops.
“There’s more and more pressure on fertiliser to get out and grow more crops, but there is also environmental pressures to make sure fertiliser isn’t being wasted into the atmosphere or lost into the ground water,” Mr Freemantle said.
“That’s why we’ve had this massive expansion into the Northern Hemisphere, and the Southern Hemisphere as well, but really major fertiliser companies are looking to make their fertiliser more efficient.”
The technology to enhance fertilisers has been around for decades, with many companies existing in Europe where there are good deposits, but Omnia has struck gold with the Latrobe Valley.
“Latrobe Valley is so brilliant, because it has world-class resources, it’s low in contaminants, hence we can get a very high concentration when we extract,” Mr Freemantle said.
“It’s just been pushed into the spotlight because environmental policies, there’s more focus on decarbonisation, making things softer, greener, and friendlier – and this is what these products do.
“But what’s exciting for us is, we compete really well on a global scale because of the quality of our raw material and the concentration. There is not too many globally that can extract the concentration we can, and that’s our competitive advantage.”
Omnia has a global market, with their biggest coming from the sub continents, and south-east Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
The US and Brazil in the Americas already have huge agriculture markets, but also have plenty of growth to make.
“Given the size of their agriculture, they would eventually be number one,” Mr Freemantle said.
Some European countries have been found to have a tougher environment from the perspective of growing crops, hence Omnia’s expansion to Europe.
Finally, the Middle East is growing rapidly too, due to the poor soils which sees those countries investing heavily in growing crops. All that is needed is water.
With the expansions continually occurring at Omnia, they hope to reinvest back into the community by the way of job opportunities.
In the last five years, Omnia has already doubled its workforce, and now currently has around 40 employees, including local contractors. That number is only expended to grow.
