Visy announces $450 million expansion
From the Winter 2007 edition of Bush Telegraph Magazine.
Visy has announced that it is set to proceed with a $450 million expansion of its Tumut NSW pulp and paper mill.
The expansion will more than double the mill’s current output of kraft packaging paper to almost 700,000 tonnes a year.
Visy CEO, Harry Debney, said the expansion would start as soon as the company received formal planning approval.
Construction is expected to take 18 months with the new paper machine due to be operating by 2009.
Harry said the project would create 50 additional jobs on site at Tumut, plus an additional 300 indirect jobs in the region, and 500 jobs during the construction phase.
Forests NSW softwood sales manager, Gavin Matthew, said Visy’s announced expansion plan proposes to draw additional sources of softwood plantation pulpwood from state-owned plantations located in Forests NSW Macquarie (Bathurst) and Monaro (Bombala) regions.
Other planned additional sources of softwood pulp supply will be from sawmill residue and private property plantations, located in the south west slopes, central tablelands, ACT and Monaro regions.
Most of the mill’s increased production will be for export markets, supplying paper customers in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. The balance will supply Visy’s Australasian corrugated box factories.
“We are continuing to increase capacity in our Australian corrugated box business to cater for market share growth,” Harry Debney said.
“This year our share of the Australian box market has passed through the 60 per cent level and that continues to expand.
“The expansion at Tumut will ensure that our local box factories will have a new range of market leading, high performance kraft paper grades available to them to serve our local box customers as well as overseas markets.”
Public Affairs & Media, Albury
