Aracruz Celulose lays cornerstone for its new pulp mill in Guaíba, Brazil

   Moscow. Aug 27, 2008. /Lesprom.com/. Aracruz Celulose is laying the cornerstone for its new pulp mill in Guaíba. A 300 thousand square metres plot of land is already being prepared in advance of the construction of the facility, with some 500 workers currently at the site. The new installation will produce 1.3 million tons of bleached eucalyptus pulp per year and will be one of the world's largest single line pulp mills.

The operation will be fully integrated with the existing mill, with overall total production of 1.8 million tons/year, and will incorporate the most advanced environmental technology currently available. This investment will place Guaíba Unit on a competitive footing with the most modern pulp mills in the world.

The mill is part of an expansion project currently being implemented in Rio Grande do Sul. The total value of the investment is R$4.9 billion, which also encompasses the expansion of the company's forestry base and installation of a logistics system that involves waterway infrastructure on the Jacuí River (for wood transportation) and the Lagoa dos Patos (for pulp transportation). The investment also includes a maritime port terminal for the export of pulp, located in the municipality of São José do Norte. The unit's production will be earmarked for Asia, where much of the pulp produced by the company is shipped.