Canfor Corp.’s Canal Flats sawmill in the east Kootenays has become the latest casualty in the British Columbia forest industry’s struggle to balance its production against timber supplies that are shrinking since the mountain pine beetle infestation. Canfor, on Wednesday announced it will permanently cease operations at the mill Nov. 9 due to “a lack…

Canfor Corp. announced Wednesday (September 9) that is is permanently closing its Canal Flats sawmill, laying off 65 workers and nine staff members. The mill’s last day is to be November 9. It’s the second time in less than a year that the small village of Canal Flats has been hit with layoffs. Canfor cut…

The Northern Pulp mill is taking the province of Nova Scotia to court. Documents filed in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia on Friday challenge dozens of terms and conditions in the mill’s industrial approval and five-year operating permit issued by the Environment Department in January. In April, the mill appealed that decision to Randy…

Utility’s major client billed mostly for thermal power; others pay more for renewables Nova Scotia Power Inc.’s largest customer, Port Hawkesbury Paper LP, is being shielded from mounting fuel costs falling on other ratepayers. While Port Hawkesbury Paper is billed primarily for cheaper thermal power, the rest of us pay for the boutique stuff coming…

Prince George, B.C.- Just when Conifex will rebuild its idled Mackenzie Site 1 mill  is not known.Conifex has just announced it has  purchased  a mill in Arkansas. “It’s important to Conifex to secure this ideal site and high quality infrastructure in one of the most advantaged softwood supply regions in North America” says Conifex CEO Ken…

The unexpected closure of the paper production operations at the Howe Sound Mill owned by Paper Excellence could cost more than 130 jobs, says Unifor Local 1119. “The announcement was a shock to us all,” said Unifor Local 1119 President Don Rheaume. “We’re very disappointed and will work hard to help our members who are…

Even though the smell and smog spewing out of Northern Pulp has faded this summer, a Pictou activist group remains skeptical the pulp mill’s emissions will stay out of their lungs for long. “It’s not a big issue in the town of Pictou any more, except for the people who comment, ‘Oh isn’t this nice…

The government is making eight changes to its industrial approval of Northern Pulp, in response to an appeal from the Pictou pulp mill earlier this year. Environment minister Randy Delorey said Thursday seven of the eight changes to the permit, which was first issued to the mill in April, are administrative and mostly deal with…

Focusing on grade lumber and high quality production, former employees purchase and restart Virginia sawmill. New owners explain the process of reopening an idle facility. When a sawmill that had been run by International Paper (IP) sat empty in Isle of Wight County, Virginia after being shut down in the summer of 2009, several men…

The Northern Pulp mill in Pictou County is back in operation. Installation of the new 10-storey, $22-million electrostatic precipitator is complete, mill officials said in a news release. “With this precipitator, we have entered a new era of improving the mill’s environmental performance significantly,” general manager Bruce Chapman said in the release. “Northern Pulp now…