THE receivers of collapsed agricultural projects group Great Southern will sell the entire Great Southern blue gum forestry estate.
Receivers McGrathNicol said (last week) that the estate consisted of about 269,000 hectares of freehold forestry land, with a net productive area of 167,500 hectares.
Most of the estate is around Albany on the south coast of Western Australia, Bunbury on WA’s south-west coast, and the green triangle region of south-eastern Australia.
Most of the plantations are managed by Gunns Plantations Ltd or Elders Forestry Ltd on behalf of investors.
Bids are due in late July, and a sale is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
And,
Land sale puts Gunns’ trees in firing line
Posted Thu Jun 10, 2010 12:36pm AEST
A move to sell off more assets owned by plantation company Great Southern has created uncertainty for Tasmanian timber company Gunns.
The receivers managing the failed company Great Southern are selling 640 properties in Western Australia and South Australia.
Gunns manages blue gum plantations on these properties on behalf of Great Southern investors.
Gunns has previously told the stock exchange that it plans to use the timber from the plantations to ensure its Tamar Valley pulp mill is 100 per cent plantation based.
But Pulp and paper analyst Robert Eastment says Great Southern’s receivers will consider the possible sale of land and trees.
“If that is the case then the management of the trees, or the responsible entity with Gunns, may or may not go with that so there’s a degree of uncertainty at this stage,” he said.
A Gunns spokesman says the matter is up to Great Southern investors.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/10/2923614.htm” title=“Read more HERE”>Article HERE
Meanwhile, Great Southern once had powerful supporters ...
- MEDIA RELEASE -
SENATOR THE HON. ERIC ABETZ
Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation
13 July 2006
100 millionth tree planting
The Australian Forestry Minister, Senator Eric Abetz, today planted the 100 millionth tree on behalf of plantation manager Great Southern Plantations Limited.
At a ceremony held on a property near Albany, Western Australia, Senator Abetz placed the seedling in the ground, marking a major milestone for the hardwood plantation industry.
“100 million trees represents the largest commercial hardwood forestry planting in Australia’s history undertaken by a single company,” the Minister said.
“Once harvested, 100 million trees will result in the production of more than 10 million bone dry tonnes of woodchip – all of which is destined to be exported to south-east Asia.
“This is worth in excess of $1.8 billion of exports at today’s figures and will create 29 billion reams of paper.
“In addition, over the course of their life, 100 million Eucalypt trees will process some 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.”
The Minister said the scale of Great Southern’s achievements could not be under-estimated.
“It would take one person, working five days per week, 77 years to plant 100 million seedlings.
“If 100 million seedlings were planted in a row they would cover a distance of 200,000 kilometres.
This would represent planting five rows all the way around the world, or a single row a little over halfway to the moon.”
Senator Abetz said the large-scale establishment of plantations was creating employment in regional areas as well as generating export dollars which were reducing Australia’s trade deficit in forest products of around $2 billion per annum.
“The Howard Government strongly supports our plantation industry.
“It is pleasing to see that companies such as Great Southern are working hard to fulfil the targets set out in Vision 2020, the framework for the expansion of the nation’s plantation estate to 3 million hectares by the year 2020.
“Without this renewable resource, we would be forced to source even more of our timber and timber products from overseas.”
MEDIA PLEASE NOTE: Great Southern Plantations has been exporting woodchip from the Port of Albany since February 2005. To date, the company has harvested 342,065 tonnes of logs and has exported has exported 144,000 bone dry metric tonnes of woodchip. In the Albany region alone, Great Southern provides direct and indirect employment for some 200 people within its forestry operations.
Employment opportunities are expected to increase as harvesting activity intensifies in the future
Through its projects, Great Southern has already injected some $1 billion into the economy, most of it into regional Australia.
Great Southern Plantations has established hardwood plantations around Australia over the past 12 years, in regions stretching from Tasmania in the south to the Tiwi Islands in the north, and from the south west of Western Australia to the eastern most points of northern New South Wales.
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