Atlas Pacific, the first ASX-listed pearl company

Despite their successes, the project was running short of development money and a prospectus was drafted to raise much-needed funds for expansion. 

The company changed its status to one of limited liability and its name to Atlas Pacific Limited, becoming the first ASX-listed company with the visionary objective of being an eco-pearling operation, providing the first-ever opportunity for the public to invest in a publicly owned pearl farm. 

The founding principles of the company were anchored in sustainability. Rather than farming oysters from the wild and decimating wild stock, they sought to employ hatchery technology and become a non-extractive farming operation. 

The first harvest

After several years of intensive research and experimentation, Atlas delivered its inaugural harvest of self-grown pearls in 1996, six years after the project's inception, and 4 years since the first team arrived in Kupang. The pearls produced were of outstanding quality in terms of shape, color, and skin characteristics, and bode well for the long-term future of the project.

Peter Purchas who had completed his initial contract with success, chose to move back to Perth with his young family. Joseph Taylor, who later completed a Ph.D. at the James Cook University in the study of the Pinctada maxima, was appointed as the new project manager in 1997. Prof Alex Kerr was appointed Chairman of the Board.