Australian Paper’s Maryvale mill in Australia begins its planned annual shut, halting production for the next four weeks to allow completion of important maintenance and capital works. Major works planned for the shut are part of a $200 million, five year capital investment program currently underway at the facility, as the company says in the press release received by Lesprom Network.
Australian Paper General Manager – Manufacturing Adrian Berton said the planned 26 day annual shut would be one of the longest in Australia Paper’s 81 year history at the site.
“Over the next four weeks we will be investing $51 million in upgrading and maintaining key strategic infrastructure underpinning our Maryvale operations,” Mr Berton said.
“At peak periods of the shut, more than 1000 employees and contractors will be on site - almost three times the normal staffing levels. More than 3500 individual maintenance jobs and 30 capital projects will be completed during the closure, including major works on recovery boiler 5, the lime kiln and the PM4. These projects will improve operational efficiency and reliability.
Key equipment at Maryvale includes three pulp mills, two wastepaper recycling plants and five paper machines.
Continued capital reinvestment has seen the mill grow to a total asset replacement value of more than $3 billion. $15 million will be spent on PM4, the largest paper machine at Maryvale, producing 225,000 tonnes per annum of high quality board for Australia’s booming packaging market. $17.5 million will be invested in the R5 recovery boiler, a key piece of the power generation infrastructure that makes Australian Paper Maryvale, Victoria’s largest producer of renewable baseload energy.
