By Glenn Hicks

Pulp Mill

Important decisions on P.A. pulp mill expected soon: Union leader

Feb 5, 2019 | 5:00 PM

The company that owns the shut-down pulp mill in Prince Albert is not yet ready to comment on an opening date nor what activities will take place there.

However, according to the local union, a decision that could lead to the re-opening of the shuttered site may be just a few months away, given the company’s ambitions to work with SaskPower by providing green electricity.

Rodney Staff, the president of Unifor Local 1120, represents the 185 staff who have recall rights to future jobs at the mill, and said Paper Excellence’s non-compete clause with the former owners to March 2021 is a key date.

“It takes 24 months from the time they say ‘yes’ to get a 45 megawatt condensing turbine built and installed in that mill,” Staff told paNOW. “So if they’re saying March 2021, that puts us into the second quarter of this year.”

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China is just screaming for pulp _{Rodney Staff, president of Unifor Local 1120.}

Staff was convinced Paper Excellence, the B.C. based company which took over the defunct site from Domtar in 2011, would once again produce pulp in addition to generating electricity for the provincial grid. The mill, which was the city’s biggest private sector employer, has been dormant since then-owner Weyerhaeuser stopped operations in 2006.

“It’ll be bleached softwood pulp. That’s what makes sense,” he said. “When the pulp mill was running it was making 1,120 tons a day and China right now, where the company makes most of its business, is just screaming for pulp.”

Staff added the fiber supply was right on the mill’s doorstep.

“We’ve got the largest bread basket of unused forest in North America sitting right here in northern Saskatchewan,” he said.

The future of P.A.’s pulp mill was thrust back into the limelight last week when Mayor Greg Dionne told the audience at his annual State of the City Address the asset could not possibly open as early as 2020 despite rumours circulating in the community. He added the city attempted to purchase the mill for its water treatment and power capabilities but the company turned them down as demolition permits continued to be issued by the city.

paNOW reached out to Paper Excellence for comment. They did not respond to questions about whether the mill was for sale, but a company spokesperson said while the Paper Mill building and Woodland Forest Office was demolished in June 2017, no other buildings had been taken down nor were there further scheduled demolitions.

In an email to paNOW Kathy Cloutier, director of corporate communications for the company, explained what the company was doing to “make an informed decision regarding the operation.”

She said last summer they issued a request for proposal seeking engineering consulting services that would outline design, build and start-up of the mill.

“Currently submissions received regarding this engineering service request for proposal are under review,” Cloutier said. She did not provide any indication of when the mill could re-open.

As the city and whatever former employees await word on the mill’s future, Rodney Staff said the engineering study is crucial for what he said were in excess of 230 jobs that could be created for a mill that was employing 700 before its closure over 12 years ago.

“That engineering study and feasibility study is the most important step to see if the mill is viable and to see if Paper Excellence wants to go ahead and open it,” he said.

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow