The massive NCT Durban Wood Chips plant in South Africa has taken its first delivery of timber.
It is the first wood chipping facility in South Africa to meet all stipulated environmental criteria before construction began and will produce about R150m worth of eucalyptus and wattle hardwood chips a year, predominantly for export to Japanese paper manufacturers.
The new mill is equipped with a Camura-Metso chipper, which will produce 35,000 tons a month by January. The storage shed is 320m long and will be used to stockpile 80,000 tons of wood chips, or two shiploads.
An NCT spokesman said the plant would save south coast and inland growers transport costs to the plant in the north of the province, while releasing additional capacity there.
