Backers of a $90 million dairy factory near Gore, who delayed the project late last year, will be back in town next week to update the Gore District Council behind closed doors on its plans, but it is unclear if they are bringing good or bad news.
Mataura Valley Milk Ltd, which is jointly owned by New Zealand and overseas investors, announced its plans in May last year but five months later, the ensuing credit crisis forced it to delay its move by at least a year.
Little has been heard from the company since, and efforts to contact management yesterday failed, with its main telephone line on answer phone.
Gore Mayor Tracy Hicks yesterday confirmed company representatives were due to address the council next Tuesday night.
An item tagged "Mataura Valley Milk Ltd" has been included in the non-public section of the meeting agenda.
But he was reluctant to comment further, other than to say he thought the item would involve some kind of update from the company.
"It's nothing negative as far as I know."
The company wants to build a milk-drying plant at McNab, on the site of the former livestock saleyards, to produce what it calls high-value, highly functional milk powders for Asian and Middle Eastern customers.
Its management claimed Southland was ideal for the venture, boasting a reliable climate, the ability to produce quality milk, room for future conversions of farms from sheep and beef to dairying, high protein and fat levels in its milk, and a long dairy season.
About 100 Southland sheep and beef farms converted to dairying for the 2007-08 dairy season and it is widely expected a similar number will convert for the coming season.
Financial backers of Mataura Valley were primarily business investors rather than farmers or end users.
Industry heavyweights, including former Fonterra senior executive John Shaskey and Max Parkin, former chief executive of the Southland Dairy Co-op (which later became part of Fonterra), were recruited as advisers.
