By Thia James

Carrot River Sawmill investment to create new jobs

Apr 2, 2015 | 12:18 PM

Edgewood Forest Products plans to make $25 million in upgrades to the Carrot River Sawmill, which is expected to increase the mill’s capacity and increase the number of jobs from 100 to more than 150.

The company made the announcement on Thursday morning, with Premier Brad Wall and Economy Minister Bill Boyd in attendance.

The upgrade, as well as processing tax incentives the province recently announced, will mean Edgewood will have some of the lowest log processing costs in the industry, C&C Resources COO Ron Dunn said in a statement. Edgewood is a division of C&C Resources.

“Together with a continual focus on delivered log cost reduction, the Carrot River Sawmill will be a long-term manufacturer of high quality lumber in Saskatchewan,” Dunn said in the statement.

The investment will mean the primary breakdown saw line will be replaced by a high recovery saw line. The new saw line can process more logs, and more lumber will be produced from each processed log.

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President and CEO of C&C Resources Kris Hayman explained the new equipment will be able to process a larger-sized log, as well as produce more lumber for every cubic metre of log input.

“So it will be a more efficient and higher-speed operation,” he said via telephone on Thursday.

The mill’s capacity will rise to 140 million board feet from 100 million board feet per year.

The new equipment is expected to be in full operation by next January.

The Sawmill reopened in January 2012 after a five-year shutdown. Edgewood bought the sawmill from Weyerhauser in 2009.

Hayman explained why the company made this most recent investment into the sawmill.

“Carrot River has a fantastic workforce and a very suitable log supply for the operation’s needs.”

He said this should increase the company’s output of lumber on an annual basis and give it the ability to compete in the international market into the future.

Edgewood also announced plans to sell the Hudson Bay Plywood Plant. It signed a letter of intent to sell it with a “group well-positioned in the plywood industry,” the company said in a statement.

The plant has been has been idle since 2007.

The company said the letter is the first step in selling the plant to an operator “that will give the plywood plant the greatest chance for long-term success…”

Edgewood said the plant could re-start as early as November and could employ 25 to 35 people.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story said 100 to 150 jobs would be created, instead of the number of jobs would rise from 100 to 150 jobs.