Burnie mill could open next year

Progress strong on relocation of Vic company

A MILL to process plantationgrown trees could be up and running near Burnie by the end of next year if a Victorian timber company locks in its plan to relocate its operations to Tasmania.

But how much the State Government might put on the table to cement Australian Sustainable Hardwoods’ move and bring hundreds of jobs to one of Tasmania’s most employment-hungry regions remains unclear.

Australian Sustainable Hardwoods, or ASH, plans to close its Heyfield Mill, with the loss of 250 jobs, and move to Tasmania after the Victorian Government offered $20 million to keep it going — a bid ASH rejected.

Resources Minister Guy Barnett said the company had not made a formal approach for backing but any proposal would be considered on its merits.

“It is obvious the company is disappointed by the stance of the Victorian Government and know we are open for business,” Mr Barnett said.

ASH, owned by parent company the Hermal Group, said Tasmania’s Office of the Co-ordinator General had been “excellent” to deal with and it was completing due diligence before making its final investment decision.

Spokesman James Lantry said a new mill could be up and running within 18 months of the decision being made.

Mr Lantry said some workers put off when the Heyfield mill closed might elect to move to Tasmania. But he expected the bulk of any Burnie-based workforce to be locals.

“The workers are there and they are skilled in the timber industry,” Mr Lantry said.

“It is a big decision to make but the company has spent a lot of money ensuring [eucalyptus] nitens grown in Tasmania for pulp or chip can be processed as big timber.”

He said talks would continue with the Government and the Burnie City Council.

“A decision has not yet been made if a legacy or greenfields site would be chosen for the mill but Burnie is the obvious location logistically.”

Burnie mayor Anita Dow said the council would continue to talk to ASH.

“The plantation based forest industry is important not only to Burnie’s economy, but also the wider region, and the economic multiplier effect of a development of this scale would be very significant,” Alderman Dow said.

Mr Lantry said ASH had no intention to use native timber for processing and there was enough plantation timber in the state to meet its needs.

“We are looking to produce quality timber, not looking for a fight,” he said.

The Wilderness Society said it was time for a government rethink on selling Forestry Tasmania’s nitens plantation estate to subsidise ongoing native forest logging.

“Retaining these plantations and using them to drive the long-overdue transition away from native forest logging is now the most logical thing to do,” spokesman Vica Bayley said.