Don't suppose there is any harm posting actual article from the...

Don't suppose there is any harm posting actual article from the West Australian:-

Australia is a step closer to its first new phosphate mine in a decade, with Minemakers set to begin trial shipments to would-be customers in India and New Zealand later this month.

The WA-based group expects to ship ore from its Wonarah mine in the Northern Territory within weeks in what it says is the first export of rock phosphate from the territory and the first from a new Australian phosphate mine since Queensland's Phosphate Hill in 1999.

The ore, mined during Minemakers' trial mining program last year, will be sent to potential customers as the company moves towards its target of production by mid-2010.

"There's about 450 tonnes going out in the first two shipments," Minemakers managing director Andrew Drummond said. "We've mined about 2500t and the rest of it is sitting undercover at Wonarah and now that it's available we expect to get some more (interest) from other potential customers.

"Prices for fertiliser are rising quite quickly, so we see it switching quite quickly from last year, which was very much a buyer's market."

Minemakers believes Wonarah to be the country's biggest undeveloped rock phosphate project.

Prices for phosphate - which is used in fertiliser - have fallen sharply from early 2008 highs. However, the signing of a key supply contract last month effectively established a global floor price for potash, another fertiliser ingredient. Phosphate prices rose as much as 15 per cent in December.