Gunns denies pulp mill shelved

The timber company Gunns has dismissed a comment by the former Tasmanian Premier, Paul Lennon, that its pulp mill project is on hold.

Gunns' shares have fallen almost 17 per cent to just 88 cents today from a peak of about $3.90 late last year.

Trading on the Australian sharemarket was expected to be volatile today, after the securities regulator lifted a ban on the short selling of non-financial stocks.

Yesterday, Mr Lennon told a Tasmanian Parliamentary Committee it appeared the pulp mill project "may not be alive", and had at least been "shelved".

A spokesman for Gunns says the project is alive and ready to be built once all approvals and finance are secured.

At Gunns' annual general meeting last month, the chairman John Gay, said he was in talks with possible joint venture partners and would wait as long as it took to get the project up.

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Wed 19th November 2008 - 01:54pm