Officials of the company planning a large nitrogen fertilizer plant near Grand Forks said they have exceeded their initial fundraising goal.
Darin Anderson, president of the managing partners for Northern Plains Nitrogen, said they raised "well beyond" their initial seed campaign minimum goal of $3 million. He declined to state specifically how much they raised.
"The vast majority was farmer-investors who are looking to use this investment as a hedge against their nitrogen prices, which was the goal of the project from its inception," Anderson said.
Anderson said the next step will be to have a third-party firm complete an engineering study, which will come up with a specific price tag for the project. Anderson said an independent study is required by debt and equity providers.
"It's like you going to your banker saying, 'I'm going to buy this car and it's worth $28,000,'" Anderson said. "And he says, 'Well show me how you get to this number.'"
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Currently, the project is estimated to cost about $1.7 billion and is expected to be operational in 2017. The plant, which is proposed to be located northwest of Grand Forks, would employ 135 once it's up and running.
Call Hageman at (701) 780-1244, (800) 477-6572 ext. 1244 or send email to jhageman@gfherald.com .
