March 4, 2015
Andrew Forrest unveiled a plan to attract long-term, passive Chinese investment to tap into existing underground Australian aquifers, including the Canning Basin in Western Australia’s far north, to provide an additional 5,000 gigaliters of water per year for agricultural production. Mr. Forrest states that Australia could be ‘drought proof’ if water use efficiency and infrastructure were improved.
His company, Mindaroo, has requested that major universities undertake localized studies on the location of underground water sources and the feasibility of accessing and extracting the water. Then, local areas surrounding these water sources will be targeted for the intensive production of grains, cereals, fruits, vegetables, and as pasture for protein production.
Mr. Forrest stated that he will be discussing his ‘ten year aspirational project’ in China in the coming weeks adding that foreign investment is critical to increasing Australian agricultural production and improving efficiencies.
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