Iwi to launch biodiesel business

Nelson iwi Ngati Koata Trust, which has 2,500 registered members, is launching a new multi-million-dollar business, making and selling biodiesel to local motorists, the fishing industry and manufacturers. It has bought the intellectual property rights to reactors used to manufacture biodiesel, and is looking for a site in Nelson, New Zealand, to make and sell the fuel from vegetable oils and possibly animal fat. Trust Executive Caron Paul said the iwi was talking with fishing businesses about supplying the fuel to them, because using biodiesel could cut their fuel costs by 5-7%. The cost would range from NZ$60,000 (US$41,663.77) for a reactor producing 20,000 liters of fuel a month, to NZ$180,000 (US$124,991.32) for one producing 100,000 liters a month. (February 15, 2007)