Armed with the timely $US100m proceeds from a 2008 placement by his Legend International, which is listed on the US over-the-counter market and boasts George Soros as a 10 per cent investor, Gutnick picked up the Paradise phosphate assets near Mount Isa, in Queensland, for a song.
He fervently believes a global food shortage will create an agribusiness and food boom outlasting anything the resources industry has ever had to offer.
The $20m Paradise listing, which has been delayed for a month until October 15, will see ownership of Legend's phosphate assets transfer to Paradise in return for a 58.8 per cent shareholding.
Acorn Capital will hold 17.7 per cent and new investors the remaining 23.5 per cent.
The plan is to spend the proceeds from the float to complete a bankable feasibility study, with Paradise expected to make a final decision on mining operations around the third quarter of 2013.
After that, $26.4m would be raised for mine infrastructure ahead of start-up a year later.
The big-ticket capital project would be an $800m fertiliser and beneficiation plant, which separates the phosphate from sand and clay in the slurry.
If Paradise reaches that stage, Gutnick says he will seek an international partner to share the cost. "I wouldn't have $9 billion in debt, that's for sure," he says, in reference to old sparring partner Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest's debt-laden Fortescue Metals.
"Paradise is a massive resource, we're close to the coast, it's much easier getting our product to Asia than from elsewhere, and there's one other similar company in Australia, Incitec Pivot, and they've got a monopoly."
With volatile markets and extreme risk aversion, the Paradise float has been no walk in the park.
As a result, the plan to list this month has been delayed until next month, with the company believed to be negotiating an offtake agreement with a potential cornerstone investor to smooth the process.
It should come as no surprise that Gutnick was searching for diamonds, trying to fulfil the prophecy, when he hit paydirt with phosphate. "But it's still mining!" he protests.
While the phosphate price has halved from its pre-financial crisis high of $US400 a tonne, causing a big dip in Legend's share price, the Paradise assets have acquired some lustre because of relatively tight global supply.
Demand for fertiliser also could surge if food shortages escalate because of persistent drought in the US -- the world's largest producer of corn and wheat.
