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Chile Arauco Gets OK for Expansion
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Santiago, Chile 07 February 2014 -- The Environmental Assessment Commission of Chile’s Bío Bío Region announced the approval of the “Modernization and Expansion Project for Arauco Mill” (MAPA) presented by ARAUCO to the Environmental Assessment Service on April 12, 2012.

This approval constitutes an important milestone in the development of the MAPA project. The next steps include the completion of the technical-financial assessment, the definition of a funding program for the project and its presentation to the company’s Board.

The project involves an investment of US $2,100 million for a new production line (Line 3) with state of the art technology; the modernization of Line 2 (pine), which will continue to operate with new improvements; and the closedown of Line 1 (eucalyptus), which dates back to the ‘70s. Once MAPA is in operation, its estimated total annual pulp production is 2,100,000 ADt.

The project also includes the construction of a new boiler for the production of biomass based electric energy, and a power line, to generate a maximum of 166 MW of surplus energy to be delivered to the Central Interconnected System (SIC), the national energy grid.

Charles Kimber, ARAUCO’s Senior Vice-President for Commercial & Corporate Affairs, said “this new milestone [allows us] to move forward to the next steps in the development of an investment that will be important for the company as well as the province of Arauco, where we have worked hard and extensively to complete this project, with the highest technical standards and citizen participation”.

MAPA is expected to enter into operation two years after construction begins. The labor workforce is estimated at 4,700 people during the construction period, with a peak of 8,300 people. The workforce for the pulp mill’s operation is estimated at 1,500 people.

 
 

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