If the proposed $900 million plant comes to fruition, it will produce 1.2 million tonnes of urea and 100,000 tonnes of liquid ammonia. The State Government recently announced it would spend $134 million building port infrastructure, brine return, seawater supply and service corridors for such projects.

The project will employ 1,000 people during construction and about 130 people when the plant is completed and operating.

Last September, Plenty River signed a letter of agreement with North West Shelf partners for the purchase of 71.5 terajoules of gas per day to feed the proposed ammonia plant. However, with Agrium coming on board as a contractual partner, the demand for gas is likely to go up by 30% to 94 TJ per day, according to Plenty River.

The other big news for the Burrup was an announcement by the State Government that it is leading native title negotiations with three claimant groups in order for major industrial developments to proceed.

The State Government said in a statement to the media it is looking to acquire land compulsorily for an industrial estate and this required negotiations with three native claimant groups - the Yaburara, Mardhudunera, Ngaluma Injibandi and Wong-goo-tt-oo.

Media reports suggest in a deal worth somewhere between $12 million and $27.5 million, the State Government will offer freehold title over almost the entire northern half of the peninsula, $7 million of infrastructure help, an upfront payment of $1.5 million and ownership of 5% of the lots in Karratha's residential and commercial land sales when they are released to the market.

It is believed the three groups have to sign an agreement by the end of next month to take advantage of the offer. The deal would be blocked if one of the groups proves its exclusive native title rights in the Federal Court.