SANTO MELCOFFEE SAWMILL LTD

is looking for partnership opportunities for the expansion of its existing timber operations

Brief Description

The purpose of this document is to present a new_business proposal for the expansion of the existing Melcoffee Sawmill Limited (MSL) timber operations. This -brand new venture is designed to show recovery on investments and injection of additional capital to reflect projected returns to the investment and the overall contribution to the national economy.

The new undertaking is a joint-venture_operation between Investment Group holding 80% and Croucher Family Trust holding 20% in shares respectively. Consequently an Agreement is in order for signing by the interested party to purchase the Melcoffee Sawmill Ltd, Melcoffee Contractors and the Croucher Family Plantation at Lorum.

Initially a thorough research into the Chinese market needs to establish the capacity in terms of volumes of timber specifications and the recommended treatment by respective international clients. China will comprise a huge percentage of this market thus it is anticipated their requirements will have a considerable influence over production volumes and appropriate equipment to maximize production efficiency.

The new joint-venture operation would require approximately three (3) months to return existing Sawmill Plant to its maximum capacity of 400M3 of treated timber and 100M3 of Hardwood timber per month. Although local demand for construction timber varies due to competition from imports of other cheap timber and mini-millers there is scope for the new joint-venture opening up a line for construction timber and an outlet in Port Vila. Immediate local beneficiaries would include Port Vila and Santo residential development and bigger operations such as the White Sands Plantation development project.

Essential staff recruitment and improvement in the first three (3) months includes; ¢ The first month will involve order of Parts needed for repairs, shipping and fitting. e Re-employ senior staff in the areas of production. The key personnel required are: e A Forester- responsible for supervising logging and reforestation operations, negotiation and acquisition of timber licenses. e A Saw doctor- supervisor of green area.

Scope of work

The second year of operation would easily experience a sustainable increase from the current output capacity of 400M3 per month to 1,200M3 per month. This will equate to 50% of Vanuatu’s Annual Sustainable harvesting yield of 68,000M3 according to the Vanuatu Government Forestry Policy. That volume could easily increase if operational logistics could cater for harvesting in other resource. Rich locations currently remote to our operation center in Luganville Santo

Operation plan will cover: i. The production of mixed species sawed timber products. ii. High value Hardwood.

  • The introduction of a New Veneer Line for potential markets.
  1. The reforestation project to be resumed on the Lorum/Loro Leases. Incidentally negotiation is underway to acquire leasehold land of additional 10,000 hectares for further plantation development of mixed timber species.
  2. Other possibilities
  • Bio-fuel- Utilization of wood wastes to generate power for factory operations and/or the entire set up. This will cater for 100% recovery of log.
  • Sandalwood- Annual Seasonal Harvesting License can be obtained from Department of Forests (DOF) to buy Sandalwood.
  • Black Bean Seeds- Historically, MSL successfully exported Black bean seeds to Europe and China.
  • Agriculture/Forestry farming
  • Carbon Credits

Vanuatu’s forestry resource is scattered over the archipelago with no access roads. However high Value hardwood timber species are plentiful and found along the coastal areas of all main islands in the Northern part of Vanuatu. Appropriate machinery and a landing Craft with a capacity of approximately 500 tons could be acquired to ease access to

at valuable forest resources that have never been utilized. Apparently access to these areas will also introduce new opportunities for trade in goods, promotion of new businesses due to ease of access and particularly initiate the company’s involvement in the sandalwood trade.

Currently Santo boasts a reasonable stock of high-value hardwood timber species namely; Black Bean, Rosewood, Natapoa, and other species that can be sustainably harvested once the new joint-venture operation rolls out its activities. MSL is the proprietor of a license to operate in a sizeable Natural Timber Licensed area. Additionally a significant supply of raw material for milling operations is expected to come from Croucher family’s white wood plantation and smallholder woodlots scattered around Santo.

Download the complete project proposal


CONTACT DETAIL

 

Mr. Steve Croucher
Director
Mel-coffee Sawmill Limited
Luganville – SANTO

Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Telephone: (678) 7786948