Just days after acquiring Riveren and Inverway cattle stations in the western VRD region of the Northern Territory, Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd has announced the acquisition of Phoenix Park, a large-scale export pre-feeding depot located west of Katherine on Florina Road, about 340km from the port of Darwin.
The depot covers over 3443ha of freehold land and is one of the largest fodder irrigation projects in the Katherine area.
Hancock Prospecting chairwoman, Gina Rinehart described it as a strategic acquisition for HPPL , giving them the ability to supply cattle throughout the year, including during the wet season, to ensure reliability of supply to markets.
“We will also be contributing to local employment and the business community in Katherine and the Northern Territory, something that is important to me,” she said. “As I have said previously, having grown up in the north, I would like to make a contribution to the development of northern Australia.”
According to Hancock Prospecting CEO Garry Korte, “the purchase of Phoenix Park is an integral part of being able to maximise its on-station breeder carrying capacity and enables the company to maximise sale weights via the supplementary feeding of locally-grown fodder.
“Hancock is interested in investing in areas where we can add value to our existing operations.”
Phoenix Park has a large cattle feedlot and handling facility with 30,000 head capacity, plus four pivot- irrigated 40-ha cropping blocks, 750ha of unirrigated cropping land and extensive cool room and freezer infrastructure.
In 2013, Texan-based Australian, Bernie Uechtritz, who at the time was looking for a buyer for the operation and nearby Northern Feed and Cube stockfeed business, told Fairfax Media that, "operated to their potential, these assets are a license to print money as stand-alone, integrated or vertical profit centres, depending on the type of ownership.
He went on to say they were “an incredible value-add and integral component to the entire northern cattle industry."