The Federal Department of Environment, Water, Environment, and the Arts has given the nod for the proposed biggest coal gasification and storage plant in the world.

The proposed facility will be constructed in Western Australia's South West. Perdaman Chemicals and Fertilisers' $3.5 billion urea plant project is expected to bring in around $850 million a year in export revenue.

A total of 1,500 jobs are lined up for the construction phase while 200 vacancies are open for the long-term. The plant was designed to turn between two and four million tonnes of coal into fertilizer in one year. India and Asia will be the target areas for the fertilizer exports.

In a statement released early today, Chairman and Managing Director of Perdaman Chemicals and Fertilisers Pty Ltd, Mr Vikas Rambal said, “This is positive news for the Perdaman Collie Urea project and one of many announcements expected over the course of the coming weeks. The Federal approval highlights the support that both the State and Federal Government is willing to provide to the project and the optimism surrounding such an important development in the South West.”

It was clarified in the statement that the “approval addresses offsite environmental impacts and does not include the project site itself, which is the subject of a separate Federal referral by the owner of the site, LandCorp.”