Consol Glass has opened its new bottle manufacturing factory in Nigel, South Africa, the first phase of a planned development on a greenfield site of 50 hectares.

Further expansion involves the addition of four more furnaces at the site, with a total capacity of 600,000 tonnes per year. The glass factory currently provides 183 permanent jobs and was established in collaboration with the city of Ekurhuleni. It produces clear glass for beverage markets, but will expand to include amber and green bottles production for food, alcohol, wine, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries in future phases.

The total cost of the first phase project was $159.8 million.