KEY POINTS:
The Southland District Council has granted Fonterra land-use consent for a $212 million expansion of its already huge Edendale plant, 35km northwest of Invercargill.
A resource management committee has agreed to give Fonterra permission to exceed the permitted heights in the district plan and build a 70m boiler stack, a 31m boiler building and a 60m milk dryer building.
The milk dryer will be one of the largest powder plants in the world.
According to Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier, the new milk dryer is to handle expected growth in the South Island's milk supply, forecast to rise significantly by the 2012-2013 season.
"Growing the co-operative's core business by sustainably increasing its milk supply and expanding its processing capacity is key if we are to capitalise on strong market demand for our products," Ferrier said.
The new dryer will manufacture regular UHT milk and instant wholemilk powders, and will take the site's peak processing capacity to over 15 million litres a day. At the peak of the season, Fonterra processes about 70 million litres a day, nationally.
The plant's third milkpowder plant, costing $113 million, and its second powder plant, which cost $149 million in 2002, were built by Auckland company Nico New Zealand.
At Edendale Fonterra produces four varieties of powder (wholemilk, skimmilk, buttermilk and fat filled) for customers in Asia, North and South America, the Middle East and Africa.
It also makes cheddar cheese, mainly for Japan and the Middle East, anhydrous milkfat (AMF) for the USA, Canada and Europe, lactose and whey cheese for the New Zealand market, casein for Japan and North America, and whey protein concentrate.
Edendale already employs about 400 staff, and Fonterra's "hub manager" at the site, Keith Mason, has said the new plant will create about 40 new production jobs on-site when it begins processing milk by the end of next year.
The Edendale factory - which produces more than 230,000 tonnes of dairy product a year - ran into trouble during the 2003-2004 season because a faulty filter system in coal-fired boilers polluted domestic water supplies and damaged vehicles.
The council committee has placed 16 conditions on the consent, including keeping noise levels below 50 decibels between 7am and 10pm and 45 dBA the rest of the time. Fonterra will have to pay the council about $424,000, equivalent to 0.20 per cent of the value of the development.
Council resource management manager Bruce Halligan said the expansion would have a positive economic effect on Southland.
The committee agreed with Fonterra that the expansion would not significantly adversely affect the area's environment.
- NZPA
