Western Australia’s timber industry has been boosted by the announcement of a new A$80m softwood plant to produce laminated veneer lumber (LVL) .
The plant, to be built at Neerabup just north of Perth, is designed to help the shift from logging old-growth forest to renewable plantation wood.
It will produce about 100,000m3 of LVL, plywood and veneer each year, to be used in mainly heavy structural applications including roofs and other load-bearing beams.
The project, which will create 140 jobs, was granted A$3.25m by the state government, which won the election last year on a promise to end logging in the jarrah, marri and karri old-growth forests.
