The Bundaberg Regional Council has approved macadamia business Marquis Group’s $40 million three-stage expansion to its processing facility in the region.
The company announced its plant and processing upgrades in August, to improve production capacity and pasteurisation technology across its operations. While the initial investment was $35 million, the group said it now expects of the upgrades to cost $40 million upon completion.
Aiming to begin stage one in the second half of 2022, the group will develop a new delivery area, install a solar farm along with constructing drying and storage buildings which will provide capacity for an additional 4800 tonnes of nut-in-shell.
The estimated $20 million first stage has been revised from $13.3 million with commencement subject to final design details, government agency approvals and potential additions to the stage’s development.
Marquis Group CEO Larry McHugh said the company changed its plans for stage one during design approval.
“When taking into account the rapid growth of macadamias in Bundaberg, we made a number of changes to the design of stage one.
“We are also considering bringing forward parts of the later stages, so that we can better deal with the rapidly expanding crop coming from our increasing grower shareholder base. This may increase the cost of stage one to $25 million,” said McHugh.
The second stage of the expansion comprises of building a new warehouse and production area, with the third stage including two additional storage buildings.
McHugh said the project will add to the company’s processing and exporting capabilities as well as support the growth of the macadamia industry in Bundaberg.
“The expansion project is an important step in the development of Marquis Group as a grower-owned company and for the broader Bundaberg macadamia industry.
“It will provide a secure platform for further industry growth and deliver increasing benefits to the Bundaberg community, including new jobs for Bundaberg locals across construction, farming and other areas,” he said.
