Perry Group plans to build NZ$25 million plant at Te Kumi, New Zealand

Following Board approval, the Perry Group is about to file a resource consent application for the building of a NZ$25 million cement plant at Te Kumi, just north of Te Kuiti, according to local report.

Ravensdown Fertilizer currently manages a well-used lime quarry at the site, which produces high-grade agricultural lime, and burnt lime for the pulp, paper and road industries, with which Perry Resources has a long-term contract to supply. Perry Group chairman, Simon Perry, says, “We have an excellent long standing relationship with Ravensdown, and there are significant synergies in having the three operations - cement, lime and ag-lime, all being produced from the one site."

Peter Walsh, the general manager of Perry Resources, said the company aims to have its resource consent application to the Waitomo District Council ready by May 2011. Afterwards, consultation will be taking place. As the area is already specified as an industrial zone, the location is ideal for a cement plant, Walsh added.

It is expected that the construction of the plant will be commissioned in mid-2013, and that this will take 12 to 18 months. The plant will supply primarily local customers throughout Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Auckland, which will decrease the costs associated with shipping and port infrastructure.

Therefore, although the prospective 80 000 tpa plant will be significantly smaller than those belonging to New Zealand’s two largest cement suppliers, Holcim and Golden Bay, the Perry Group insist it will be a highly efficient plant producing low cost cement close to its market.

Perry Resources has a proven track record in sustainability and environmental values, and intends to focus on these issues moving forward with this project. Additionally, considering the integrated nature of the cement industry, Perry Resources has not ruled out involving strategic partners. “We have received expressions of interest from a number of parties,” Perry noted.  “We are excited about […] bringing more jobs to the Waitomo region, and to growing the Waikato region’s increasingly important role in supplying aggregates and minerals to the upper North Island, especially Auckland.”

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/asia-pacific-rim/21032011/perry_group_plans_to_build_25_million_dollars_cement_plant/