BRAZIL (News release) -- Fibria says its Horizonte 2 Project ended the second quarter of 2017 ahead of schedule, reaching 96% of physical completion and confirming the early start-up of the industrial plant at the beginning of September 2017. Financial progress came to 69% and total investments in the project remained at R$7.5 billion ($2.4 billion).

In the forestry area, it is worth noting better-than-expected progress in timber harvesting, the beginning of inventory building and progress in the forest planting program. It is also important to mention the beginning of the learning curve of the automated nursery operations.

In the industrial area, Fibria made significant progress with the completion of assembly and equipment testing, as well as testing and commissioning of the process areas. Fibria successfully performed the first auxiliary fuel burn in the recovery boiler, an important goal of the project.

In logistics, the highlights were the beginning of cargo and road tests and the purchase of trucks to transport pulp. The works at the Intermodal Terminal in Aparecida do Taboado have also advanced.

****

Jim Thompson is back again...with a new book on a taboo subject: the personalities in the pulp & paper industry. Jim has written in the past on many subjects based on his four plus decades in the worldwide pulp and paper industry. This new book is packed full of information valuable to the senior member of the industry as well as the recent entrant. A must for every pulp and paper library.