In 1988, the Fiji Sugar Corporation marked a significant milestone in its expansion initiative with the installation of Fiji’s largest crusher at the Labasa Mill, as noted in an article from The Fiji Times on August 26 that year.
The new crusher, costing $1.8 million, was the first enhancement to the mill’s crushing system since its establishment in 1894 by the Colonial Sugar Refining Company. Labasa Mill is the third of four existing mills in the country, following the Penang and Rarawai mills.
The crusher was purchased from Puna Mills in Hawaii, which had closed due to extremely high production costs. Engineers from FSC traveled to Hawaii in 1987 to take apart the equipment, which was then shipped to Labasa for reassembly under their guidance.
This initiative was part of a broader $42 million investment by FSC for the mill’s expansion since taking over from CSR in 1973. Upon the commissioning of the new crusher, FSC’s board chairman, Lyle Cupit, stated that Labasa Mill’s share of capital expenditure at 32 percent was stable, highlighting the development focus the mill had received. Over 15 years, the corporation utilized $130 million for upgrades across its four mills.
Upgrades during this period included enhanced bulk sugar storage and port facilities at Malau, a state-of-the-art boiler, a complete new feeding station, and additional evaporators, pans, and condensers. The facilities at Malau have allowed FSC to crush cane efficiently during standard seasons, as well as store and ship sugar optimally.
The new crusher features 84-inch rollers, pressure feed rollers, gearings, and a 1000-horsepower turbine drive, sharing similarities in design with existing crushers but differing in size. According to Mr. Cupit, the addition of the crusher would bring about minor improvements in throughput but would have a considerable impact. Its design aims to enhance sugar juice extraction from bagasse, raising the output from 5 percent to between 3.5 and 4 percent.
Furthermore, this new installation would serve as a contingency; if one of the three current crushers were to fail, operations could continue uninterrupted. Work on the new crusher commenced in early March 1988, guided by engineer Sheik Ahmed from the corporation’s Suva headquarters and Jack Sinclair from Lautoka Mill.
FSC also planned to install a similar crusher from Walkers of Australia during the upcoming slack season to replace one of the existing crushers. Once operational, Labasa would boast the most modern milling train among the nation’s sugar mills.
The three original crushers, which were smaller models installed in 1894, have undergone several modifications over the years to boost their capacity in response to increased cane production. With the additional crusher, Labasa Mill is projected to crush 1.2 million tonnes of cane within a 30-week season, averaging 400,000 tonnes per week.
Mr. Cupit expressed that the decision to add a new crusher at Labasa Mill represented a point of pride for both FSC and the sugar industry.