The momentous announcement by Tasmania’s logging giant Gunns, to move out of all native forests should have a major impact on Victoria’s and Gippsland’s logging future. “Just as the woodchip industry is suffering its biggest downturn in decades, just as the Supreme Court ruled in favour of endangered wildlife protection over logging, Victoria’s largest sawmiller, …
Reflex is made from ripping down the beautiful ash forests of the Central Highlands, Melbourne’s water catchments and the home of the endangered state faunal emblem, the Leadbeaters Possum. The Wilderness Society and other enviro groups have been trying to negotiate a win-win outcome with the makers of Reflex paper for the last five years. …
After all the gloom we have to report on here’s a little something to warm our hearts and bring us hope… The insatiable monster that consumes most of East Gippsland’s forests is the Eden woodchip mill. Without that, logging would stop. Could it possibly be on the way out? Apparently the global economic downturn is …
After a $300 million upgrade, Australian Paper’s (AP) Maryvale pulp and paper mill is on the market. Reflex copy paper is their most well known brand and is the reason the Central Highlands and Strzelecki forests have been logged and destroyed for decades. PaperlinX has recently put its mills up for sale, realising it’s not …
A December ‘05 truck-check vigil at the Eden woodchip mill showed that over 2/3rds of logs that entered the Nippon woodchip mill at Eden were large, meaning they are from mature and old growth forests. Of the 158 trucks that arrived between 4am and 7pm on just one day, 75% came from the south (the …
Bob Humphries (the old woodchip war-lord) pulled his annual stunt last August of threatening to sack his workforce, which would bring the entire town of Cann River to its knees, unless he gets more or cheaper logs. The town has a population of about 300 and Bob employs nine of them. Still, he seems to …
We don’t often get such pleasure but it’s been delightful to watch. Stephen Mayne described it as “Australia’s most ethically challenged company”. Gunns’ planned pulp mill is all but on the scrap heap. Borrowing money or finding a backer is going to be impossible – no matter how many officials they bribe. Its shares dropped …
In 2008, the price of our native forest woodchips was more expensive than last year. Because of a shortage of wood supply from around the Pacific Rim and an increased demand in Japan, the mountain of chips sailing to Japan annually looks set to increase. However, the global economic turmoil could throw a spanner in …
The main pulp/paper producing region in Europe is Scandinavia, and up to a third of the raw wood used to make paper there has come from Russia. Since 2006, Russia has increased the export tax on its raw log exports to €15 per cubic meter from €2.50. But on January 1st, this tax is set …
In May 2008, ANZ told Gunns it won’t be funding its $2 billion pulp mill in northern Tasmania. ANZ has been Gunns’ main banker for 22 years but was facing a volcanic reaction from customers and shareholders if it helped get the mill built. This announcement was quite a body blow, but Gunns grimaced and …
