The Hillston Mill is located north-west of Hillston on the Mossgiel Road. Photo: Colliers

A UNIQUE grain storage and processing facility in the Western Riverina region of New South Wales is up for sale with the listing of the Hillston Mill.

Being offered by Colliers Agribusiness on behalf of the receivers, the 40ha property features a hardstand area hosting crushing and milling infrastructure, agricultural commodity storage, bitumen road access, high-voltage power and ground-water supply.

The site has been used to crush oilseeds, pelletise livestock feed, and make related oil products.

It sits 12km from Namoi Cotton’s Hillston gin, and is within 185km of three other gins and major grain depots in the region.

The property is listed with the Colliers team of Adrienne Harvey, Ben Malden and Matthew Meynell.

“Hillston Mill offers an exciting opportunity for an investor seeking to value add oilseed and grain commodities and/or requiring significant grain and agricultural commodity storage in the Hillston area,” Ms Harvey said in a statement.

Mr Malden said the property was strategically located in an area known for its productive agricultural land due to its rich soils, temperate climate and reliable water supply.

“On top of this, the area is known for its broadacre row cropping, comprising winter cereal crops (wheat, barley and oats) and legumes (lucerne and vetch). Irrigation water via the Lachlan River and Lower Lachlan Groundwater Aquifer allows for summer cropping enterprises such as cotton and maize,” Mr Malden said.

“Beef cattle and sheep grazing are also major enterprises in the region.”

Facility history

Melbourne-based Oilseeds Australia owned the plant until the company went into liquidation in February 2024.

Improvements include grain and agricultural commodity storage facilities. Photo: Colliers

A now defunct website for the company listed Oilseeds Australia managing director as Dhruv Deepak Saxena, founder of the Riverina Oils and Bio-Energy crushing plant.

According to ASIC documents, a holding company run by Mr Saxena and Indumathi Saxena owned a 56.4-percent stake in Oilseeds Australia before it was taken over by receivers.

The company used the facility to produce pelletised cottonseed meal for livestock feed in the sheep, cattle and dairy industries, as well as further refining the cottonseed oil to then sell into the food manufacturing sector.

The facility was listed for sale in June 2023 by Cranleigh Partners’ Brad Rickard as having the capacity to produce up to 30,000 tonnes of pellets per annum.

During the campaign, an additional $5 million worth of plant and equipment was also offered with the facility.

The equipment, which was on-site and ready for installation, had the potential to double the plant’s annual capacity.

Grain Central understands the plant was mothballed before being brought to market in mid-2023 but had an offtake agreement in place with an animal feed company for more than 50pc of the annual production.

Unless sold prior, offers to purchase the Hillston Mill close on March 12.

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