A MEDICINAL cannabis growing facility near Mildura will have an annual output increase of 40 per cent after its design was amended.
Cann Group chief executive Peter Crock on Tuesday said the facility would boost annual projected production from the initial 50,000kg of dried flower to 70,000kg, increasing its annual revenues to $280 million a year based on the current wholesale price of dried cannabis flower.
“It’s the same footprint but the technology as it’s being applied in the facility is allowing us to get increased efficiencies,” he said.
The sophisticated $130 million facility, which includes a 34,000 sq m glasshouse, is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of next year with the cultivation of mother plants starting in the third quarter of 2020.
It is expected to create 170 permanent jobs, with the recruitment process to start later this year.
“We’ve completed the ground works and the foundation to the facility is now in,” Mr Crock said.
“Specialised components from the Netherlands continue to arrive at the site and construction is progressing well.
“We’re finalising the impact of the design changes but the construction project as it is proceeding is on track.”
Restrictions surround naming its location.
Mr Crock said the increased production would be a huge boost to access and reduce cost to domestic patients.
“That’s one of the key drivers for getting as many efficiencies into this as we can,” he said.
“There’s more patients applying for access to products but they’re really struggling to gain access and that’s why it’s so important that we can have … Australian-produced product available for patients.”
Mildura’s large-scale cultivation and production of medicinal cannabis will service domestic and export markets after Cann announced its five-year offtake agreement with Aurora Cannabis earlier this year.
“We have to service the Australian market first and that is our primary objective,” Mr Crock said.
“But setting up on a global scale means that will happen quicker and be more cost-effective for Australian patients.
“We’ll have dried flower available but we’re also working with a GMP (good manufacturing practice) partner to have extracted products available in oil form, so there’s going to be a number of different final dose forms we’ll have product available in.
“We’re in the process of developing them at the moment.”
