Metsä Group Press Release 13 February 2015 On 13 February 2015, Metsä Fibre signed letters of intent with Valmet Corporation and Andritz Oy to provide the main equipment deliveries for the Äänekoski bioproduct mill. If the prerequisites for the investment are met, the decision on the construction of Metsä Fibre's planned bioproduct mill in Äänekoski will be made this spring. Final delivery contracts will be signed if Metsä Fibre decides to go ahead with construction of the mill.
The letter of intent with Valmet covers the bioproduct mill's recovery boiler, pulp drying line, lime kiln and bark gasification plant, as well as the mill's automation system. According to the letter of intent with Andritz, the company will deliver the bioproduct mill's fibre line, wood processing plant, evaporation plant, and recausticising plant.
“The design of the bioproduct mill has progressed according to plan and we have now chosen the main equipment suppliers, which is one of the criteria for making the investment,” says Ilkka Hämälä, CEO of Metsä Fibre.
According to the letters of intent, the domestic content of the main equipment procurements for the bioproduct mill is quite considerable, about 70 per cent. METSÄ GROUP Group Communications For further information, please contact: Timo Merikallio, Project Director, Metsä Fibre Oy, timo.merikallio@metsagroup.com, tel. +358 (0)50 5989 342. www.metsagroup.com
Metsä Group is a responsible forest industry group whose products’ main raw material is renewable and sustainably grown Northern wood. Metsä Group focuses on tissue and cooking papers, fresh forest fibre paperboards, pulp, wood products, and wood supply and forest services. Its high-quality products combine renewable raw materials, customer-orientation, sustainable development and innovation. Metsä Group’s sales totalled EUR 5.0 billion in 2014, and it employs approximately 10,500 people. The Group operates in some 30 countries. Metsäliitto Cooperative is the parent company of Metsä Group and is owned by approximately 122,000 Finnish forest owners.
www.biotuotetehdas.fi When materialised, the approximately EUR 1.1 billion bioproduct mill planned by Metsä Fibre would be the largest ever investment in the forest industry in Finland. The mill would have an annual pulp production capacity of 1.3 million tonnes. It would be built in the existing mill area in Äänekoski, and would replace the mill currently operating in the area. If the investment requirements are met, the decision on construction of the bioproduct mill will be made in spring 2015, meaning that production would begin in 2017.
