Australian timber giant Gunns has applied to build a rotary veneer mill at its sawmill site in Western Junction, Tasmania.
The company has not revealed the size of its proposed investment, but it is anticipated to run into millions of dollars. The plant will have annual production capacity of 67,500m³.
Last year Gunns closed its sliced veneer mill in Boyer because of a shortage of high quality logs following harvesting restrictions in Tasmania’s old growth tropical forest.
Terry Edwards, of the Forest Industry Association of Tasmania, said that Gunns’ new venture, which will be able to use lower grade raw material, tied in with the industry’s strategic aim to “add value to the lower quality product now available to the industry”.
“One strategy is to take the best quality pulp wood and convert that to a higher quality product than just woodchips, and that’s where rotary peel veneer fits in,” he said.
