"Does anything look to be wrong with me today?" he scoffed.

Mr Gay also deflected criticism of his pet project, the Bell Bay pulp mill, which will now cost the company $2.5 billion to build, up from $2.2 billion.

Key announcements by the company during yesterday's 90-minute meeting:

•It had secured all necessary agreements from landowners on the East Tamar to facilitate the water supply pipeline from Trevallyn.

•40 per cent input for the project would come from an equity partner, with Swedish giant Sodra confirmed as a key player in funding negotiations, along with an undisclosed number of other companies.

•It was attempting to gain new international Forest Stewardship Council Certification, as required by Sodra.

•Its long-term aim was to transform the company from a native woodchip business to a plantation- based company, another Sodra requirement.

Gunns has enough plantation estate to feed the mill within five years, it said.

Mr Gay said the company would not alter its elemental chlorine-free status of the Bell Bay mill, despite Sodra previously indicating it would only support a total chlorine-free mill.

Mr Gay refused to set another timeline for construction of the mill but said the project would proceed on financial close.

Gunns mill project manager Les Baker said Gunns was in the process of obtaining effluent samples from a pulp mill in Brazil for the Federal Government- required hydrodynamic modelling for the mill's operating permits.

Wilderness Society pulp mill campaigner Paul Oosting welcomed Sodra's involvement but he said that even if Gunns met all Sodra requirements, the mill should not be built in the Tamar Valley.

"Gunns should use this opportunity to go back to the drawing board and undertake the substantial reforms required to meet the basic standards that any credible international investor would require," Mr Oosting said.

"For this pulp mill to be truly world class, it must be independently assessed, must not lead to irreversible environmental destruction, and must have the support of the community."

Gunns confirmed legal action against the Gunns 20 had cost the company $2.8 million and was not yet over.

Chief executive Greg L'Estrange said the company was continuing its bid for the plantation estates of failed managed investment scheme company Great Southern.

Woodchip markets in Japan had been tough in the past year and improvement for the next year would only be minor but Gunns had signed a long- term lease to build a Portland port export facility by late next year.

Mr Gay was joined by Robin Gray in being re- elected, with new director David Simmons appointed.