A Toongi farm, owned by a company striving to become a future producer of critical metals, is drawing on the past in its bid to be registered under the federal government's Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF).
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Toongi Pastoral Company (TPC), owned by Australian Strategic Materials (ASM), is reintroducing perennial grasses on the farm to improve carbon sequestration.
ASM, the owner of the Dubbo Project, has revealed registration of TPC as a carbon farming project under the ERF has begun.
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"TPC will aim to increase the carbon content in the soil by at least one per cent over a period of 10 years, thereby earning carbon credits against the emissions of the Dubbo Project," AMS reports in its latest newsletter.
TPC is nurturing the perennial content of existing native grasslands which are mostly designated biodiversity offset areas for the Dubbo Project.
It has also sown about 50 hectares (ha) with perennials such as premier digit , rhodes grass, phalaris and box grass.
During 2021, TPC intends to sow another 200 ha with a mix of winter and summer pastures that will be used as part of a rotational grazing system.
"Perennial grasses have a longer growing season than annual grasses and cycle nutrients deeper and more efficiently," ASM reports.
"The presence of perennials is a sign of a healthy grassland."
TPC also had to take a step back in time during harvest.
Perennial grasses have a longer growing season than annual grasses and cycle nutrients deeper and more efficiently.
- Australian Strategic Materials
A "scarcity of contractors" proved challenging for TPC and other crop growers.
"To help get harvesting underway during equipment shortages, TPC acquired a vintage 24-foot header that performed admirably," the newsletter revealed.
"The farm produced good yields of grain and grazing crops, primarily barley, wheat, oats and mustard.
"The silos are all full and hay and sileage stock have been replenished."
ASM reports of "progressing" the shovel-ready but yet-to-be financed Dubbo Project.
It is based on a long-term resource of rare earths, zirconium, niobium and hafnium at Toongi.
The company aims to be a "mine-to-manufacturer" producer of high-purity metals which are critical for a diverse range of advanced and clean technologies.
Its first plant has been earmarked for South Korea.
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