Oceania wins consents for Glenavy dairy plant

Oceania Dairy company has been given resource consents for a new $95 million dairy processing plant to be built near Glenavy, 23km north of Oamaru in South Canterbury.

The consents were approved by Canterbury regional council and the Waimate District Council.

Oceania Dairy, established by boutique Christchurch merchant bank, private equity and corporate advisory firm Ocean Partners, has been working with a specialist dairy marketing and logistics company Global Dairy Network to target markets in Asia and the Middle East.

The consents mean the group is now another step closer to starting the development, Oceania Dairy chairman, Keith Turner said.

The resource consent process took longer than expected, acting chief executive of Oceania Dairy, Paul Park said.

Mr Park recently extended a deadline for raising $74.75 million but said he did not expect the delay to prevent the schedule commissioning in July 2011.

The coal-fired factory will have a 37m high dryer tower, and a 45m high boiler chimney, and will be on a 70ha farm on State Highway 1.

At the peak of the milking season, it is expected to receive 1.2m litres of milk daily, to produce up to eight tonnes of whole milkpowder or 5.5 tonnes of skim milkpowder as well as anhydrous milkfat (AMF).

    See tomorrow's Otago Daily Times for full details