New Zealand Phosphate Sources

Sustainable Phosphate Futures for New Zealand

Phosphate fertiliser is a critical input for sustaining New Zealand agricultural productivity. The Sustainable Phosphate Futures for New Zealand project was established to explore strategies to enhance the efficient use of phosphate resources as well as to review strategies to enhance the security of supply of phosphate for New Zealand agriculture through the use of New Zealand sourced phosphate. This report reviews issues in relation to the use of New Zealand sourced phosphate.

Despite the importance of phosphate to the New Zealand economy, there have been very few exploration programmes that have targeted phosphate. It must be assumed that the generally accessible off-shore sources has meant that there has been little incentive to locate a local source with the exception being during World War 2 when the Nauru deposit was not available. There has however been commercial mining of New Zealand deposits with approximately 140,000 tons of phosphate rock mined at Clarendon up to 1924.

There are numerous occurrences of phosphate minerals in on-shore sedimentary rocks in New Zealand. L&M Group Limited (L&M) has had an interest in exploring for and potentially developing New Zealand’s phosphate resources for a number of years. In 2019 L&M commenced investigations to determine the potential for commercial phosphate production and identified four regions which they regarded as warranting detailed evaluation. Criteria for selection were primarily the potential size and grade of the deposit, and secondarily, the location in relation to transport and infrastructure. These areas are named North Canterbury, South Canterbury, Waitaki and Clarendon.

Find out more about the viability, feasibility and environmental effects from using New Zealand sourced phosphate by reading the full report at Our land and Water