Expertise
Our Factories
Working together for
Sustainable Production
Our three factories, commonly known as Mill’s within our region and industry, collectively produce approximately 700,000 tonnes of raw sugar and 180,000 tonnes of molasses every year through the sugar milling process. To do this, the factories “crush” greater than five million tonnes of sugar cane and apply highly specialised techniques and technology to grow sugar crystals from sugar juice in a process that takes approximately 24 hrs from when the cane is received at the factory to when the raw sugar is stored in our sugar silos, ready for transport.
To ensure and maintain the quality of our sugar and monitor our environmental footprint, each one of our factories includes a co-located laboratory that tracks various outputs from the sugar milling process and carefully measures the sugar content of the cane we receive, forming the basis for cane payment to local growers.
Our Factories
Racecourse Mill
Our “newest” factory, built in 1889, Racecourse Mill is at the heart of our business. The site is home to Mackay Sugar’s corporate office along with our Central Workshop where much of our in-house fabrication work takes place and home to our apprentices as they kick start their careers in sugar.
Our 38 MW cogeneration plant (Cogen) is also located at the Racecourse Mill site. This facility helps Mackay Sugar achieve a near-circular economy throughout our production process by using bagasse (the byproduct of the sugar milling process) to generate green electricity that powers the factory, the co-located refinery, and exports excess electricity into the national grid - enough to power approximately one third of Mackay households. The ash from the boilers is also used as a soil conditioner sugar for cane crops, which is known to contribute toward strong yields for the coming crushing season.
Also located at the Racecourse Mill site is;
Sugar Australia’s refinery, which produces sugar under the CSR brand that consumers see on supermarket shelves across Australia, and;
Queensland University of Technology’s (QUT) biofuels pilot plant, which is researching and trialling the production of renewable aviation fuel by using the by-products of the sugar milling process.
On average, Racecourse Mill produces approximately 213,000 tonnes of raw sugar and 52,000 tonnes of molasses. Through Cogen, we generate 160,000MW hours on average each year, with around 80% of that (approximately 130,000 MW hours) being exported into the national electricity grid as green energy.
Our Factories
Farleigh Mill
Farleigh is home to our longest-standing factory, established in 1885. Rich in history, Farleigh is an iconic landmark in the Mackay region and processes cane from all corners of our cane farming network thanks to versatile cane receival equipment, that includes a combined tippler and weighbridge
The Farleigh Mill site is also home to our Business Services Centre, which includes our important Cane Payment function - ensuring our 700+ growers receive accurate payment for the cane they supply to us each season.
On average, Farleigh Mill produces approximately 207,000 tonnes of raw sugar, 52,000 tonnes of molasses and exports 2,000 MW hours of electricity.
Our Factories
Marian Mill
The largest factory at Mackay Sugar, Marian Mill, is situated approximately 30 minutes from the CBD in the regional town of Marian - nestled amongst some of the highest yielding sugar cane land in our region. Marian Mill has two milling trains and boasts the highest raw sugar production volume of our three Mackay Sugar factories.
On average, Marian Mill produces approximately 280,000 tonnes of raw sugar, 70,000 tonnes of molasses and exports 6,900 MW hours of electricity.
