Uruguay adjusts details to inaugurate one of the world’s largest pulp mills

Finnish company UPM is awaiting authorization from the Uruguayan Ministry of Environment to start operations at its new eucalyptus pulp mill in the department of Durazno, in the center of the country.

The company expects to start operations at the end of March.

With a total investment of US$3.47 billion – which includes a specialized pulp terminal at the port of Montevideo and facilities in the nearby city of Paso de los Toros – the plant is the largest foreign investment in Uruguay’s history.

The company’s second mill, completed in December 2022, has a production capacity of two million tonnes and is located in Pueblo Centenario, a town of just over 1,000 inhabitants on the Negro River, one of the country’s main waterways.

At the moment, the company is carrying out preparatory activities for its start-up: finalizing electrical, instrumentation, automation, and commissioning works, as well as starting the transportation of chemicals and wood to the facilities.

In addition, tests have been carried out on the boilers and the water intake and effluent discharge systems, among others.

However, according to Ámbito, the government has not yet established the authorization date, arguing that they are within the stipulated deadlines.

According to the news site, the Ministry is analyzing the environmental consequences on the Negro river, where the discharges from the plant will be dumped.

Other difficulties the company faces are the delays in the completion of the Central Railway works, through which the company expects to transfer its production to the Port of Montevideo.

Although the railroad works are expected to be completed by October 2023, the delay forced the company to hire 200 trucks daily to transport the pulp.

The government plans a new evaluation of the plant and will hold meetings with the company’s authorities on March 23.

When it starts operating, UPM’s second plant will be the third of its kind to operate in the country, after Montes del Plata, of Chilean, Swedish, and Finnish capitals, located in the town of Conchillas, and UPM’s first one, located in the city of Fray Bentos, on the coast of the Uruguay River.

With information from Sputnik