A new soybean crushing plant will be built in Buena Vista County near Alta, Iowa, pending state and local approvals.
Development partners Mike Kinley and Nick Bowdish have joined forces to develop Platinum Crush, LLC, the second, modern soybean processing facility in the state. Kinley is also leading the development of Shell Rock Soy Processing (SRSP), which is under construction in Butler County in northeast Iowa.
“Platinum Crush is positioned to extract all the value possible from locally-grown soybeans,” said Kinley, the managing member of Ag Development Group LLC, which develops value-added projects for the ag sector. “This plant can supply both food and fuel needs. It will also bring Buena Vista County and the surrounding area into the center of the global food and fuel economy.”
Platinum Crush will own the new facility, which will cost about $350 million to build. Ground-breaking is slated for late 2021. When the plant becomes operational around March of 2024, it will crush 38.5 million bushels of soybeans annually, or 110,000 bushels daily. It will also create 50 to 60 high-quality jobs.
Platinum Crush will be built adjacent to the CN Railway, which will service the facility.
“CN is pleased to see the next world-class soybean crush plant select our network to move value-added agricultural products to consumers all around the globe,” said James Cairns, senior vice president, rail centric supply chain, for CN Railway. ”We are excited about the opportunity to make this facility a reality in northwest Iowa.”
Platinum Crush, by the numbers
Platinum Crush will produce 847,000 tons of soybean meal per year (2,420 tons per day) for livestock feed markets, 450 million pounds of crude soybean oil per year (1.28 million pounds per day), and 77,000 tons of pelleted soybean hulls per year (220 tons per day). The soymeal and soy hulls (which contain highly digestible fiber) will be used in livestock feed rations.
Soybean oil from Platinum Crush can be used for a variety of applications, including the human food industry and the rapidly expanding, renewable diesel bioenergy segment.
Platinum Crush will be able to unload trucks quickly, saving farmers and truckers a great deal of time when they deliver soybeans to the plant.
