CEO Stephen Van Deventer said it’s a “major milestone” as Asterion gears up to start work on its cannabis facility
Asterion Cannabis Inc said Monday that its wholly-owned Australian subsidiary Asterion Australia has received its licences for the cultivation, manufacturing and research of medicinal cannabis from the Australian government's Office of Drug Control.
In a statement, the privately-owned Canadian medicinal cannabis company said the licence was effective from December 20.
"This is a major milestone for Asterion as it prepares to commence work on its industry leading medicinal cannabis cultivation and processing facility near Toowoomba in south east Queensland, Australia," said Asterion Cannabis CEO Stephen Van Deventer.
READ: Asterion Cannabis submits Operational Works permit application for its Toowoomba Medicinal Cannabis project
"Asterion is delighted that it has passed through the ODC's rigorous assessment process and been awarded the licences it requires to establish its flagship project,” he added.
The company said the nod from the Office of Drug Control is a “major step” for Asterion towards manufacturing pharmaceutical-grade medicinal cannabis at its planned 75 hectare (185 acre) site that includes 400,000 square metres (4.3 million square feet) of glasshouse modules for cannabis processing and cultivation and 108,000 square metres (1.2 million square feet) of auxiliary and processing buildings, along with a world-class medicinal cannabis tissue culture propagation facility, research and quality assurance labs and advanced security systems.
"Asterion intends to commence work on the Toowoomba Facility in the first quarter of 2020 and is expected to commence cultivation of its first crop in 2022,” said Van Deventer.
“On completion, the Toowoomba Facility is expected to employ more than 1,000 people harvesting more than 20,000 plants a day, and to generate an estimated AUD$2 billion annually in exports, while also supplying medicinal cannabis to the Australian market,” he added.
The licences authorize Asterion Australia to cultivate cannabis plants and process them into a range of medicinal cannabis products, including natural dried cannabis flower, across a variety of strains, aimed at specific medical conditions, as well as gel capsules, oils and soluble gels.
Asterion Cannabis is currently a privately-owned medicinal-cannabis producer with operations in Australia, specializing in medical cannabis and focused on producing the highest quality of genetically uniform cannabis strains, at an affordable price. It is looking to construct the world's largest purpose-built greenhouse cannabis production facility in Queensland, Australia.
