Chilean salmon farmer Australis Seafoods is planning a USD 70 million (EUR 56.8 million) processing plant in the far south Magallanes region of Chile, slated to be finished in 2019.
According to a report in national Chilean daily El Mercurio, the company has presented a plan to build the plan to authorities and seeks to process 71,290 metric tons of salmon annually. The facility will be located near the southern city of Puerto Natales.
The company has filed its environmental impact plan with the local Environmental Evaluation Service. The plant will receive live fish in a land reception point and adjacent structures, including an industrial liquid waste treatment facility, piping infrastructure to receive the live salmon and discharge treated wastewater underwater.
According to the report, the company plans to start construction on the facility in July 2019, once it has received the corresponding authorizations it needs from Chilean authorities.
This facility is one of several aquaculture-related projects announced for the Magallanes region. Salmones Blumar is planning to harvest smolts in its fish farms in the region, a plan which contemplates a USD 150 million (EUR 121.8 million) investment and a processing plant slated for 2020.
Salmones Multiexport is also planning to start operations in the region during the fourth quarter of the year, and estimates that production should start in 2020.
