OneFortyOne Plantations, the US company that purchased rights to the forests in the South Australia’s south-east has been welcomed by local workers and businesses. Source: Adelaide Now
This was despite a fierce campaign against the sale last year.
The reception received by the company had been “exceptionally good”, interim chief executive Dave Rumker said.
“People were very up-front with us. They said ‘we did not want the transaction to go through but it has – and we know you guys have stepped into the situation and want to make it work and we’ll support you’,” said Rumker.
OneFortyOne is a consortium managed by US-based private investment company Campbell Group, and it paid $670 million last October for three forward rotations of forests.
Foresty SA will run the operations for five years then OneFortyOne will call competitive bidding.
One of the first jobs has been to satisfy people in the area that OneFortyOne won’t simply export all the logs and will maintain high fire safety standards.
According to Rumker the safety regime will stay exactly as before and OneFortyOne would maximise the proportion of logs going to local sawmills.
“If 100% could go into that market, we’d take it,” he said.
“The primary challenge for the region is the pulpwood side of the equation because the Kimberly Clark facility shut down.
“There really hasn’t been a good replacement for that.
“With the right incentives and technology, a biofuel facility could come in. That would make a big difference in the region.”
Rumker was pleased to see government support for a research project into the value chain of SA’s forestry, which is being undertaken by researchers from Finland.
Last week, the Cellulose Fibre Chain Study was allocated $580,000 from the state and federal governments for a second stage.
Reporting Stage 1, researchers said with no pulp mill, the use of chips and saw dust for bioenergy or biochemical generation should be considered. They attributed low profitability to poor yields and a lack of modern practice.
OneFortyOne expects the three forward rotations of forests to last about 105 years.
