Expansion of Winstone's Tangiwai sawmill planned

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 11, Issue 533, 17 May 1994, Page 1

Expansion of Winstone's Tangiwai sawmill planned

A second shift at the Tangiwai sawmill couldsee 25 new jobs created, and Waimarino timber being sold overseas. The board of Winstone Pulp International adopted a plan that could see the second shift taken on early next year, after buying the Tangiwai mill August last year. The company also owns the major forests of Waimarino and Karioi which company general managerDave Anderson said would yield about 300,000 cubic me-

tres by 1998-2000. He said the board' s strategic plan would see that timber processed "as far as possible down the 'added-value' chain". He said at present timber from the sawmill was produced for the domestic market but, with the increased production, an off-shore marketing venture could be introduced. It was too early to say with certainty but the overseas timber markets are likely to be Pacific Rim countries. The sawmill will run in

conjunction with the pulp mill, with chip produced at the sawmill going into the pulp process. Mr Anderson said the company had wanted to purchase a new sawmill but decided to go for a smaller mill and develop it while at the same time learning about sawmilling as a company. The company hopes to be in a position in the first half of 1995 to fund the second shift. First, they will be installing kilns and planing equipment, costing about $2.5 million. Tangiwai is one of the last mills to be producing green timber, and to cater to new timber markets they would have to produce kiln-dried timber. The following stage will be setting up a small log line at the Karioi pulp mill, said Mr Anderson. This would allow the maximum amount of timber to be cut from normal logs, plus being able to cut timber from

smaller logs. The log line is designed for processing small logs. He said the company had big plans but that it was a matter of generating the re venue to fund them. The pulp market is stead-

ily improving, said Mr Anderson, with Karioi coming through its third year of record production. The company had been able to. cope with a depressed pulp market until now through higher production while

holding costs down, thus spreading costs. But he said it was a case of "steady as she goes". "The Waimarino continues to be a depressed area and we don't want to give

false hopes," he said. Winstone currently employs 205 people, 170 at the Karioi Pulp Mill. A further 100 people are employed by contractors working for the company.