The E.A, Rawlison Centre hosted the Paper Excellence Open House Thursday night. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Local business

Paper Excellence opens doors to public

Oct 22, 2021 | 12:00 PM

The company behind the planned re-start of the Prince Albert Pulp Mill gave the community a chance to learn more about their operations, as well as future opportunities with respect to jobs.

A come-and-go style open house was held Thursday night at the E.A. Rawlinson Centre. Cy Standing, chair of the Wahpeton Dakota Development Corporation, was among dozens of interested people who attended.

“We are interested in the employment and whatever we can do to help with construction,” he said.

Carlo Dal Monte, vice-president of Energy and Business Development for Paper Excellence, was very pleased with the turnout and told paNOW the questions he received mainly had to do with employment, construction and whether the company had inclusion policies with respect to Indigenous procurement and Indigenous services.

“So it’s been less about we are going to do technically at the mill and more about how can I get involved,” he said.

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The feedback collected from the public will be incorporated into the company’s submission to the Ministry of Environment as part of the environmental assessment process. Dal Monte confirmed the company’s timeline remains on track to begin construction in the spring, followed by a start up at the end of 2023 and be fully operational in 2024.

“Obviously that’s contingent on the environmental assessment process going smoothly. We don’t anticipate any issues,” he said.

The Open House was well attended and featured lots of good information. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

The reopened mill is expected to employ 200 people and create over $300 million per year in economic benefits for Prince Albert and region.

With respect to their operations, Dal Monte explained COVID created a bit of a shift in the industry. With more people working from home offices, there was less paper consumption but on the other end of the spectrum, supply tissues and towel products have been hot commodities.

“On the pulp and paper side it’s been an interesting ride so we will see where it settles out because I think the impacts of the pandemic are still playing out on the market,” he said.

The Prince Albert pulp mill was constructed in 1968 and open until the previous operator closed it in 2006. In September, the province announced the timber allocations for Paper Excellence.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell