MODERN EQUIPMENT FOR MAIN MILL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26778, 22 May 1948, Page 8

MODERN EQUIPMENT FOR MAIN MILL

The pilot mill now stands among the levels on which the buildings for the main mill will be erected. The plans provide for a loading platform to receive the logs as they come down from the forests, and for a sorting chain which will size the logs before they are dropped into a pond and poled along to the first of the mill operations. This is an elevator which will raise the logs to the second floor level of the mill. They will then he sawn, and the cut timber will be sent by mechanical operations, which will sort them into the respective sizes, down to men who will grade them and stamp them before they are placed into kilns on the bottom floor. The mill will provide its own power. The wood which cannot be used as timber will be minced by machines and fed mechanically into a boiler as required. It is estimated that this automatic process will enable sufficient power to be generated from a steam electrical plant to provide not only for the requirements of the mill itself, but also to feed some back into the hydro-electric system. At present the pilot mill is linked up with the latter. The other buildings will be the office accommodation at the mill and a loading shed which will enable the sawn timber to be placed direct into railway trucks. When the mill is in full operation, it is expected that much of the timber will be used in connection with the building of the Coal Creek hydroelectric scheme. The timber then will be cut into 16ft lengths, but at present the pilot mill is producing any sizes required for the main mill buildings. No difficulty is expected in maintaining an adequate supply of logs. The forestry team will fell 30-year-old trees progressively around the plantations, and as the forests are self-sown, no difficulty is expected in

the replacement of trees as they are cut. In fact, the Daily Times was told that new trees would begin to grow almost as soon as light was

admitted to areas within the plantation by the felling of older growths. Assisted immigrants are working on the project. The forestry team is well housed, the single men being accommodated in sturdy huts in the plantation area. Already some houses have been erected near the mill site. A truck capable of transporting up to 20 tons of timber in one haul is available for use when the needs of the mill require it.