Australasia's home for timber news and information

Fumigation risk to health

Exposure to a gas being used on an industrial scale at Port of Tauranga doubles the risk of contracting motor neurone disease, new research has found. Source: New Zealand Herald The revelation comes days before a public meeting will air concerns that using the methyl bromide gas to fu
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Prime position to take over sawmill

The search is on for someone to fire up the former Prime Sawmill and fill up to 50 new jobs. As part of Eastland Community Trust’s $12.1 million plan to reactivate the former Prime Sawmill site, ECT says it is launching a national marketing campaign to find an operator for the mill. S
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Chickens in a flap over Heyfield

Chicken farmers across Victoria fear the cost of producing chicken meat will escalate if Australian Sustainable Hardwoods’ timber mill closes at Heyfield. Source: Weekly Times As a byproduct of timber processing, sawdust and wood shavings from the mill are the major source of bedding
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Great Forest Park could create jobs

The creation of a long-mooted national park on Melbourne’s fringe could create hundreds of jobs by turning the area into an eco-tourism centre, an analysis has found. Source: The Age Commissioned by environment groups, the report by consultants the Nous Group estimates the propo
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Great Forest National Park numbers don’t add up

The peak body for the forest, fibre and wood products industry, the Victorian Association of Forest Industries (VAFI) says the establishment of the proposed Great Forest National Park (GFNP) would have negative consequences, not only for the industry, but socially and economically for
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Government funds sought for major mill refit

The owner of Australia’s largest hardwood processor has asked the Victorian Government to fund a $40 million refit of the mill. Source: Timberbiz Australian Sustainable Hardwoods employs 250 people at Heyfield in Gippsland, but is threatening to close the mill due to a cut in na
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Shortage of sawdust in Germany

The shortage of sawdust has prompted an increase in sawmill residue prices in Germany. Source: Euwid The growing shortage is due to heavy demand from the pellet industry, a seasonally lower supply of residual wood and reduced cutting performance in the sawmilling industry. In Germany,
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Nippon Paper invents new paper based material

Nippon Paper Industries (NPI) has developed functional materials that have the features and characteristics of minerals through its unique technologies of fixing and compounding particulate minerals and pulp (cellulose fibers), a raw material in paper, with each other. Source: Lesprom
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‘Controversial’ Super Bowl Ad crashes 84 Lumber’s Website

“The Service is unavailable” Those were the words you’d find if you tried going to Journey84.com following 84 Lumber’s “controversial” Super Bowl ad on Sunday. Source: The Huffington Post The ad featured a Spanish-speaking mother and daughter apparently traveling from Mexico to the Un
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Forest Corp’s biggest buy since 1980s

The New South Wales Government is not ruling out further expansion of its forestry business after making its biggest acquisition since the 1980s. Source: ABC News The Forestry Corporation has bought 7000 hectares of pine plantation and plantable land near the timber towns of Oberon, T
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