Arauco Adjusts Completion Date of MAPA Pulp Mill Project in Chile to 4Q 2021
Arauco's project MAPA at Arauco Mill in Chile includes the construction of a new production line (Line 3), with an annual capacity of 1,560,000 tons per year of eucalyptus pulp.
Nov. 20, 2020 - Arauco in its third quarter 2020 conference call presentation said that the latest estimate on the completion of its MAPA pulp mill project is now the fourth quarter of 2021. The project was originally expected to be completed by the beginning of the second quarter of 2021. Arauco's US$2.350 billion project MAPA (Spanish acronym for Modernization and Extension of Arauco Mill project) at Arauco Mill in southern Chile includes the termination of pulp line 1, the modernization of current production line 2 and the construction of a new production line (Line 3), with an annual capacity of 1,560,000 tons, increasing annual pulp production at the complex by an estimated 2,100,000 tons. As part of its 3Q 2020 presentation, Arauco said, "MAPA Project progress as of the end of September 2020 was 63.2%. We have already received the main equipment and parts to complete the project, and the construction and assembly of equipment continues. Recently, we installed 5 test centers [COVID-19] on site with a capacity of performing up to 1,000 PCR exams per day, with the ability of delivering test results in a matter of hours. To date, almost 50,000 PCR tests have been applied to workers of the project, with a positivity rate significantly lower than the national average informed by the Health Ministry in the daily COVID-19 report. "In coordination with our contractors and subcontractors, we have taken action and enacted measures by generating protocols and reorganizing MAPA Project work systems. In accordance with the contractors, we now estimate that the startup will take place at the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2021. At that point the existing eucalyptus line (Line 1) will be permanently shut down in accordance with the environmental permit," Arauco added. SOURCE: Arauco |