Lignor offers the first viable alternative to wood chipping Australia’s abundant eucalypt plantations by using this sustainable resource to produce high strength structural building products. Thus Lignor offers the opportunity to shift the building and other industries away from the dependence on native forests including imported lumber and other less greenhouse friendly construction products.
Engineered wood products (“EWP”) are experiencing exceptionally high growth globally due to their attractive environmental and predictable performance properties and the reduction in availability of mature high quality sawn hardwoods. The process of stranding is a method commonly used in North America to produce EWPs. In Lignor’s process, immature and undersize plantation trees are used to produce large, consistent, high strength and durable engineered products. Lignor has spent almost a decade developing these products and independent market researchers have confirmed their significant market potential.
The premium characteristics of Engineered Strand Lumber® (“ESL®”) and Engineered Strand Board® (“ESB®”) have been rigorously tested by many independent accredited authorities and will be prized in applications requiring high strength, large dimensions or outdoor suitability such as heavy structural uses, decking, flooring and joinery in residential and commercial construction. A number of architects have expressed interest in these products because Lignor’s products are significantly stronger than many other EWP’s. Lignor’s high performance ESB® has an Internal Bond five (5) times that of the highest OSB (Orientated Strand Board) Standard widely used in low and medium rise construction. ESL® will offer a real sustainable alternative to the diminishing supplies of larger dimension sawn hardwood timber typically derived from mature native forests, and will compete as an environmentally and builder friendly, cost effective alternative in many of the applications where steel is increasingly being used.
ESL® and ESB® have an embodied energy which is 50–70% lower than alternative steel products. However, because about 60% of the energy required to manufacture ESL® or ESB® comes from the 30% of the log and bark not strandable, using ESL® and ESB® wherever possible in house construction could save up to 25 tonnes of CO2 emissions per house1 (about 25 times the CO2 saving an average Toyota Prius driver saves driving in a year)2.
Lignor has secured a 30 hectare site for the plant in the Mirambeena Timber Processing Precinct situated within the Great Southern Region of Western Australia, one of the largest areas of Blue Gum plantations in Australia. Vendors for the supply of the processing equipment have supplied quotations.
Raw material will come from mainly Forest Stewardship (FSC) certified plantation Blue Gum eucalypt logs and thinnings and residues from managed State forests which have achieved Australian Forestry Standard (AFS) certification. The AFS is endorsed by the international Program for Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC) which independently ensures sustainability of the native forest resource. Log suppliers are eager to conclude negotiations as Lignor offers a useful risk mitigation away from the dominant chip market.
Off take contracts and domestic distributors will be used to sell the greater part of the plant’s production.
Lignor’s Board of Directors demonstrates an appropriate mix of project, construction, industry and capital markets experience. The senior management team is led by the company’s Acting Executive Officer, who has over 25 years in the timber industry — both in Australia and overseas.
1 URS report dated May 2007: "Emission benefits associated with Lignor Products"
2 Toyota Prius Advertisement, 14 May 2007
