After Arauco obtained the preliminary license for the Sucuriú Project , which certifies environmental viability and establishes guidelines for the next phases of licensing to build the company’s first bleached pulp factory in Brazil, the company awaits the installation license.
According to Theófilo Militão, Institutional Relations and ESG manager at Arauco, in an interview with Jornal do Povo, the company hopes to receive the new license by next April. The start of earthmoving work in the area where the new factory will be installed is scheduled for June this year. However, construction work is only scheduled to begin in 2025 and the project is scheduled to start in 2028.
The new project will have the capacity to produce 2.5 million tons of bleached cellulose per year and will receive investments of approximately R$15 billion.
Although the works have not started, the company has already started hiring workers for the forestry operation, which began a few years ago. Around 1,300 workers were hired, as well as approximately 200 regional suppliers.
“All the vacancies offered at the moment are for forestry operations, as only after receiving the installation license can we hire for civil construction”, highlighted the manager.
Arauco currently has a planted forest base of approximately 100 thousand hectares. According to Militão, the plant will require 300 thousand hectares of planted forests. “We already have an important area planted and a very aggressive planting for the next three years, which should allow us, when we have the plant operating, to have this total planted base, necessary for the operation of the plant”, he informed.
Arauco’s largest eucalyptus plantation is currently concentrated in the municipalities of Inocência and Água Clara, but Três Lagoas, Cassilândia, among others, also have planted areas.
PULP VALLEY AND EXPANSION
For Theófilo Militão, the number of cellulose industries in operation and others planned in Mato Grosso do Sul – which generated the nickname “Cellulose Valley” for the region – do not generate concerns. “If we take the state map and look at these plants, their areas do not overlap. This is not a point of concern for our project”, he highlighted.
The executive also reinforced that Arauco already plans to install the second cellulose line , which is part of the factory’s expansion project, announcing it before it even goes into operation – or even starts the works. The two units will have the capacity to produce five million tons of cellulose per year.