March & April 2021 business updates

7 May 2021

New Waste Tyre Area

Golden Bay started with the new initiative that will stop 3 million used tyres a year being send to landfills and instead use them in cement manufacturing.

This new waste tyre project took 5 and half year in the planning and design, and 31 days to execute. The company received a $13.6 million grant from the Government’s Waste Minimisation Fund in 2017 toward what was then an $18 million project.

On Tuesday 30^th of March Ministry for the Environment, David Parker, had the privileged to open the new waste tyre area at Golden Bay Portland Plant.

Parker said it was one of the “biggest” waste minimisation projects he’d probably ever be associated with.
“Everyone can take pride in this initiative because this really is big. It’s a win for the environment and a win for business,” he said.

A key element of the project was the installation of a hotdisc combustion module built by Danish engineering group FLS. The chipped tyres are combusted at about 1400 degrees Celsius and the rubber, metal and ash are combined into the cement. Other investments included a fuel stockpiling area and feed conveyer.

As the tyres would be burnt at a very high temperature, there would be no black smoke or physical waste. The gases released are essentially the same as for coal: carbon dioxide and water with minor amounts of carbon monoxide and other gases and trace quantities of heavy metals.

This new waste area will reduce Golden Bay’s coal use by about 15 per cent while also reducing its iron sands use by about 5000 tonnes a year, without harmful effects from air discharges.

Ross Taylor, Fletcher Building Chief Executive said “local manufacturing must compete fiercely with imports, and this investment allows us to continue doing just that. At the same time, we’re providing local jobs as well as supply chain security for the domestic building, infrastructure, and construction industries”.

Golden Bay Cement Event 2 Photography 039

Golden Bay waste end-of-life tyre project

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Girls in Infrastructure Expo

On Tuesday 30th of March we had the pleasure of hosting the Girls in Infrastructure event in Portland, Whangārei.

We were extremely happy to see more than 70 females high school students aged over 16 from over ten Northland schools and institutions attended this successful event.

The event was designed to break barriers and show senior high school students that careers in Infrastructure can be a very exciting pathway to employment.

The girls had the opportunity to visit our Manufacturing Plant, Workshop and Portland Quarry which gave them an in-depth insight into our operations and allowing them to see the largest loader in Northland. As well as experience one of our cement tanker making them see that a career as a heavy machinery operator or a tanker driver is not impossible to anyone.

We want to extend our ‘thank you’ to all major sponsors who made this event happening: Fulton Hogan, KEP Consulting and Northpower.

We had the honour of having MP for Whangārei, Dr Emily Henderson opening the event follow by Kelly Stevens (Golden Bay’s Process Engineering Manager).

It’s great to see these fantastic career pathways available in Whangārei,” says Dr Henderson. “Supporting women into trades does double duty – not only by employing women who are among those hit hardest by the economic impact of COVID, but also to help deliver much needed infrastructure.”

“We were excited to show our plant and talk to the girls about a possible career in Infrastructure. The room was buzzing with excitement from the school girls and the stall holders, it was such a cool event to be involved with,” Stevens said.