An amicable split between Australian investors of medical cannabis production and their Canadian financial backers has been dismissed as no big deal, says the general manager of Richmond Valley Council on the Northern Rivers.
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MYM Nutraceuticals and Agraflora Nutraceuticals, (formerly PUF Ventures Inc) based in Vancouver, initially announced a bold plan to build a glass-covered super secure greenhouse in the council area back in October 2017.
At that time MYM's share price in Canadian dollars was 50 cents. Two months later its shares were trading at CA $4.40 but dropped to CA 47c just before the split late last year. Since then the price has risen slightly on news that the company secured $25m in funding, part of which it intends to plough into the creation of an open paddock facility near Henty with the initial planting of 50 hectares expected to grow to 350ha as the market opens.
Agraflora's share price nearly tripled to CA 30c after the Richmond Valley announcement before dropping back to 9c eight months later. Currently its shares are trading at around CA 60c.
Meanwhile, Richmond Valley Council and Australian-owned SANA Nutraceuticals are picking up the pieces with the aim of establishing a medicinal cannabis facility in the area. The council having a memorandum of understanding with SANA founder and CEO Michael Horsfall who said he was overwhelmed by the support received from all levels of government, in particular the local council. SANA is currently in the assessment stage for three licenses with the Federal Government’s Office of Drug Control in Canberra.
Touted as the “largest medical cannabis facility in the southern hemisphere” at full scale it could have 11ha under greenhouse conditions with the capacity to support annual production of more than 100,000 kilograms of high-quality cannabis, which equates to an associated annual revenue generation potential of between $800 million and $1.1 billion, based on current pricing metrics in the global cannabis marketplace.
Mr Horsfall said SANA expected to create at least 300 direct and indirect jobs in the Northern Rivers region from its medicinal cannabis greenhouse project.
“SANA’s state-of-the-art greenhouse facility will be the largest growing, manufacturing, processing and research facility in Australia,” Mr Horsfall said.
“This is an innovative project which will help patients, create jobs, undertake research and develop new products in the medical cannabis field.”
General Manager Vaughan Macdonald said the council was excited by the prospect of working with SANA Nutraceuticals to support the development of this important new industry.
Mr Macdonald said the proposed medicinal cannabis project would go a long way to meeting the council’s commitment to reduce unemployment through economic development, and improve the prosperity of our community.
“We look forward to working closely with SANA Nutraceuticals to bring this project to reality, and working to create a new agricultural industry in our region, Mr Macdonald said.
