Friday, May 28, 2010. ARAUCO presented Environmental Impact Statements to COREMA (Chile’s regional environmental commission) for its projects “San José Plywood Facility”, “Production Increase through Improvements at Valdivia Facility”, and “Increase in Boiler Capacity at Valdivia Facility”, which means good news for the Los Ríos Region.
These three initiatives combined will generate 1,200 permanent jobs in the region, in addition to 800 jobs during the construction’s peak stage. Total investment will amount to US$ 120 million.
ARAUCO CEO Matías Domeyko assured: “We will favor local hire in whatever jobs we possibly can, and at the same time we will implement a skills training program in Mariquina, that will be developed together with the municipality”.
Matías Domeyko also recalled that “ARAUCO has been present in the Los Ríos Region for more than 20 years. We’re comfortable here and we believe that the region currently offers the necessary conditions to develop this sort of projects”.
San José Plywood Facility
The project includes the construction and operation of a plywood panel plant located in Mariquina commune. This new facility will have an annual production capacity of 350,000 cubic meters and will require a 105 million dollar investment.
About 700 people will be needed to permanently operate this plant. It is estimated that a large part of the staff will come from Mariquina, Lanco and Máfil, which are nearby communities. In addition, a significant number of people will be needed for its contruction: 350 workers average, with a maximum of 600 people.
San José Plywood Facility will be under construction for approximately 22 months beginning, according to estimates, in January 2011.
Other projects
Another project is “Improvements at Valdivia Pulp Mill” which involves process improvements and will generate 500 new permanent job positions.
A third project submitted to the Los Ríos Regions COREMA is the “Increase in Boiler Capacity at Valdivia Facility” which will allow an increase in the sale and/or supply of electric energy and/or steam to third parties. This initiative allows ARAUCO to increase its contribution to the Central Interconnected System (Chile’s energy grid) using renewable energies.
The company also is developing two more projects in the Maule Region: the construction of a thermal cogeneration plant in the Viñales area, in Constitución; and the construction of a Medium Density Particleboard mill, a melamine laminating plant, and a melamine impregnated paper plant in Teno.
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