Pellet mill plan mooted

A LEADING forestry company is considering a pellet mill in southern Tasmania after plans for a woodchip export facility fell through.

Neville-Smith forest products group chief executive Andrew Walker said the company was considering a larger pellet mill.

Recently Neville-Smith subsidiary Southwood withdrew a plan for a woodchip export facility at Dover after it could not come to an agreement with the salmon farmer Tassal, whose operations were near the proposed woodchip port.

Southwood chief executive James Neville Smith said at the time the inability to export residues was costing the company $500,000 a year.

Mr Walker said a $2.5 million investment in a pellet mill in Launceston had been a commercial success and had also provided savings on the cost of waste removal.

“There is consideration for a larger project that is not ready to announce yet but we are looking at feasibility for a larger plant in the future,” he said.

Mr Walker declined to say where a southern pellet mill might be located.

He said the mill converted residue into a heating product, and the residue would normally be headed for landfill.

It had also enabled employment of a further 20 people by the company.

“We have been able to make Tasmania self sufficient in pellet heating with this product, which is replacing im- ports from Geelong and New Zealand,” he said.

The company had also invested $3 million in a kiln drying facility.

Forestry Minister Guy Barnett said the State Government was in discussions with parties about an export facility.

“There is no one simple solution, we’re looking at all the options, we are getting them on the table,” he said.

“We have a plan for growth and in terms of southern Tasmania we are cleaning up the mess after the demolition of the Triabunna chip mill and we are in discussions with all the key stakeholders.”

Federal Agriculture and Water Resources Minister David Littleproud is scheduled to make an announcement today at Neville Smith forest products.

Also yesterday, a new report confirmed a rebound in the state forestry industry since the collapse of Gunns in 2012.

“The Socio-economic Impacts of the Forest Industry-Tasmania, by the University of Canberra’s Jacki Schirmer, found that there were more than 5700 direct and indirect Tasmanian jobs supported by the sector.

The report found the industry was worth $1.2 billion a year.

Mr Barnett said much of the growth had been in the private forestry sector.

“There is more value adding, we have the Hermal group with their cross laminated timber products manufacturing facility, this will be the largest manufacturing sawmill in Australia at Hampshire,” he said.