Kawerau mill buys dairy land under waste pipeline

Norske Skog has bought land near the Tasman Mill to safeguard its access to an important pipeline. Picture / Nicola Topping

Norwegian industrial giant Norske Skog has bought a strategic block of dairy farming land surrounding its Tasman Mill in Kawerau to secure a pipeline crucial to its operations there.

The Overseas Investment Office cleared an application from the mill owner to buy 10.6ha of freehold land from R&S (OBE) Holdings. Norske Skog's wastewater pipeline runs over the land to treatment ponds nearby.

The pipeline was built by Tasman Pulp and Paper, part of the former Fletcher Challenge Group, which owned the mill. The mill bought the land, but the breakup of the Fletcher Challenge group resulted in the block being sold.

The investment office said the land purchase would ensure Norske Skog was able to retain access to the pipeline, maintain it and protect its interests in the ponds nearby by creating a buffer zone.

The mill plans to lease the dairy land back to the vendor.

The mill was bought by Norske Skog in 2000 and operates 24 hours a day, transforming raw fibre into high-quality newsprint and directory paper, supplying nearly all of this country's needs.