Amcor's Botany (B9) Paper Mill, Australia

Amcor Packaging (Amcor) is constructing a new paper mill at their botany site located 11km away from the Central Business District of Sydney in New South Wales.

Named B9, the new paper mill will produce paper-based packaging products ranging between 80gsm and 200gsm from 100% recycled, high quality paper generated from the waste collected throughout Sydney.

Estimated to cost A$400m, B9 represents the single biggest investment made by Amcor.

Currently under construction, the mill is expected to become operational in the first quarter of 2012.

B9 is being constructed on vacant land adjacent to existing paper mills 7 and 8 on the Botany Road.

The land is located in the south west corner of the McCauley and Botany streets. The two existing mills will be demolished after the new mill becomes operational.

B9 is expected to increase Amcor's paper based packaging capacity to 345,000t a year. It will also replace the Fairfield plant in Sydney.

The two mills 7 and 8 will continue to operate and produce 250,000t of paper a year until the B9 mill becomes operational.

Benefits to Amcor

B9 is specifically designed to minimise environmental impact such as noise, odour and water discharges and generate savings in power and water.

The new mill will mainly use recycled or bore water for production. It will require minimal usage of town water for backup purposes. It is expected to reduce water usage by 26% which will save about 660 mega litres of water a year for Melbourne and about 250 mega litres of water a year for Sydney.

In addition, the mill will reduce energy usage and landfill waste by 34% and 75% respectively.

Equipment installed at the B9 paper mill

The Botany Paper Mill will house a complete container-board line equipped with two gap former units, a closed draw double nip press section and a film size press.

Botany B9 paper mill construction

The project was approved in July 2007 and officially announced by Amcor in February 2008. It was originally scheduled for commissioning in 2010, but got delayed following a merger with Carter Holt Harvey in March 2009 and unfavourable market conditions. The merger decision, however, could not be materialised due to difference of opinion in the asset valuation between the two companies.

The construction of B9 is being carried out in stages to allow uninterrupted operation of the existing paper mills.

Stage 1 involves construction of an electrical substation and tanks. Buildings and service infrastructure adjacent to McCauley and Botany streets will be demolished in stages 2 and 3 respectively.

Stage 4 will witness modifications and extensions to the waste paper mill.

Earth and civil works and actual construction of the new mill will be carried out in stages 5 and 6. The final stage, stage 7, includes demolition of the existing mills and other minor construction works.

Demolition work related to stages 2 and 3 commenced in 2007. The stage 2 demolition works resulted in about 8,000t of concrete waste, of which 99% was recycled. The stage 3 demolition activities created about 1,700t of brick and concrete waste, of which 86% was recycled.

Underground electric cable laying work was carried out parallel to the demolition works. As of June 2011, the construction was in the fifth stage.

Contractors involved in Amcor's project

Installation of underground cables along the existing easement was carried out by Energy Australia.

Amcor awarded the design and construction contract of B9 to Leighton Contractors in January 2011. Valued at A$110m, the contract included the design and construction of the paper machine building, storage facilities, mill offices, the control room and other associated works. Metso will supply the complete container-board line as per the main order received from Amcor in 2008. Another order for the container-board line was placed with Metso in February 2011. Metso will also be responsible for the installation, automation, commissioning and start-up services including training the personnel.

Financing the new paper mill

Amcor will sell its 16ha Fairfield site and half of the 20ha Botany site to fund the construction of the new paper mill. The company was expecting about $150m from the sale of the Fairfield plant in 2010.

It, however, withdrew the sale from the market in 2011 because of poor real estate prices. It plans to proceed with the sale in 2012 after B9 becomes operational.