Ashburton Salt cancelled by German developer K+S Salt

German salt giant K+S Salt has pulled the pin on its Pilbara salt play nearly one decade after beginning work to bring the major project online.

Ashburton Salt was to be an $850 million, 4.7-million-tonne-per-annum operation employing 135 staff on a project with a life of more than 60 years.

But the project has been caught up in the state’s sluggish environmental approvals system since 2016.

K+S had hoped to have the project up and running by 2022.

While well supported by the community in Onslow, some environmental concerns were held about its potential impact to the Exmouth Gulf.

K+S Salt Australia managing director Gerrit Godecke said they were no longer pursuing development of the Ashburton salt project.

He said the decision was in line with the company's direction not pursue growth opportunities in international salt production.

"I am disappointed we did not finish what we started by ultimately taking this project to production, and that the people of Onslow and the Thalanyji People, Traditional Owners of the Ashburton Salt site, will not realise the significant benefits the project would have brought," Mr Godecke said.

"K+S remains confident the Ashburton Salt project could have been developed to be one of the world’s most environmentally sound solar salt projects."

It has been a relatively busy period in the usually quiet world of salt mining in Western Australia.

Rio Tinto recently sold its 1.5mpta Lake MacLeod field near Carnarvon to Leichhardt Salt for $375 million.

Leichhardt is also pursuing a final investment decision for its 5.3mpta Eramurra Salt project in 2026.

And construction at BCI Minerals’ Mardie Salt project near Karratha is well advanced.

At 5.35mpta, the Kerry Stokes-backed project will become the largest single salt mine in Western Australia.

Exports are expected to commence in the 2026-27 financial year.

Rio Tinto harvests about 9mpta from its salt fields in Dampier and Port Hedland.

Japan’s Mitsui & Co is the other major player in the space, harvesting about 4mpta of salt from Onslow and Shark Bay.