PREPARATIONS are under way for medicinal cannabis plants to be transported to Sunraysia’s new production facility after receiving the green light for cultivation to begin.
Last week, Cann Group announced that the $130 million state-of-the-art site near Mildura had been granted a permit for commercial cultivation.
“The completion of the works in the cultivation areas and our transition into commercial production activity is a major milestone for Cann,” Cann Group chief executive Peter Crock said.
“Along with the granting of the Office of Drug Control (ODC) permits, it represents a tremendous achievement on the part of our project development and regulatory teams.”
The ODC permit means medicinal cannabis can now be produced and cultivated while research activities are carried out.
The site was acquired about three years ago.
The announcement of the practical completion stage is a major move forward after funding and supply issues and the impact of COVID-19 pushed out timelines.
Mr Crock said a separate permit covering the manufacture of medicinal cannabis products at the Mildura site was expected to be issued in the near future.
He said preparations were now under way for medicinal cannabis plants to be transferred from Cann Group’s southern facility, in Melbourne, to Mildura, with the first commercial cannabis crop expected to be harvested by June.
Late last year, Mr Crock said the Mildura facility was expected to create 40 more jobs after coming online and would produce about 12,500kg of dried cannabis flowers each year.
Further fit-out and commissioning work will continue in some parts of the facility, but the site has now been handed over by principal builder Quanstruct (Aust) and a certificate of occupancy issued.
“Our investment in new technology and scale will generate important benefits, including cost efficiencies that will help make Cann globally competitive,” Mr Crock said.
“As we ramp up commercial production, we will expand our market development activities with the aim of quickly growing our customer and revenue base, capitalising on the scale, cost and quality benefits that Mildura provides.”
