A $25 MILLION export mill that will produce wood pellets for the lucrative European biofuel market is edging a step closer to reality.Glenelg Shire councillors granted planning approval for the Heywood mill, which is poised to become the third commercial plant of its kind in Australia.Western Australia-based company Plantation Energy is behind the development which will employ 15 people full-time and generate a further 45 jobs indirectly in transport and maintenance support.The mill comes two years after the hopes of the Heywood community were dashed when plans to build a $650 million pulp mill collapsed.Glenelg Mayor Geoff White welcomed Plantation Energy's proposal and said it would steer an extra 10 ships into Portland each year."It's good for Heywood, good for the shire and good for the Port of Portland," he said. "The mill will also help the environment."Cr White said the pellets were made from debris left on bluegum plantation floors after the trees were harvested.Plantation Energy's manufacturing process involved drying and compressing the discarded timber into tiny cylindrical bars -- similar to stock pellets. Cr White understood the pellets were shipped to Europe and used in power generation.Plantation Energy director Dick Allen said the pellets provided a low-cost, effective and efficient fuel and an immediate solution to greenhouse gas reduction targets. He said there was potential for the pellets to be used in industrial and domestic applications throughout Australia as a substitute for coal or gas.The company hoped to build the plant on the site for which the pulp mill was earmarked. It is owned by Timbercorp, which is in administration. Plantation Energy business development manager Jarrod Waring said the company was waiting for administrators to finalise Timbercorp's assets."There is no definite entity in dealing with this land so we are waiting for that process to be clarified," he said.Mr Waring said the plant would employ 60 people in construction, which was expected to take six months.