ANIMAL nutrition company Ridley has offloaded its former salt field assets at Bowen in north Queensland.
In a statement to the ASX, Ridley today confirmed all of the shares held by its subsidiary, Ridley Land Corporation, in Bowen Land Development Corporation are being sold for $1.25 million.
Production activity at the former salt field ceased several years ago.
Ridley says the "natural biological aspects and physical layout of the crystalliser and condensing ponds are conducive to the production of a wide variety of algae".
Kevin Murphy, chairman of Advanced Algal Technologies (AAT), parent of the purchasing entity Futura Holdings Qld, said the salt farm in Bowen provided AAT with the opportunity to produce algae on a large commercial scale.
"The salt farm is ideally set up for the production of spirulina as it covers 500 acres of production area," Mr Murphy said in a statement.
He said the acquisition of the Bowen salt works would make AAT the largest production facility of algae in the world.
