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BC-based Forestry Company to Acquire Resolute F.P.

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Resolute Forest Products is being sold.

The BC-based Paper Excellence Group says it has entered into an agreement to acquire Resolute.

The deal is worth an estimated $2.7 billion U.S.

Under the agreement, Resolute will continue to operate its mills under its name but will become a subsidiary under Domtar, that Paper Excellence acquired last year.

Resolute operates a pulp and paper mill in Thunder Bay and sawmills in Thunder Bay, Ignace and Sapawe. Domtar has operations in Dryden.

There are no changes expected to the management team, which will remain at Resolute’s headquarters in Montreal.

The deal still needs to be signed off by shareholders, with a vote planned for this fall.

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Local MPP Hopeful For Future Of Kenora Mill

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Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford is cautiously optimistic that the Kenora Forest Products Mill will re-open.

He says with the high price of lumber, the facility can get going almost immediately.

“We’re in a good place to cut good board foot and the forest strategy that Minister Yakabuski just rolled out is a good opportunity for responsible resource development.

The Mill is currently in receivership, but Rickford won’t say if or when a sale of KFP is going to be finalized.

Rickford adds that before the facility can re-open, some enhancements have to be made.

“The folks that live on the lower north side obviously have had on-going, very serious concerns about the noise levels coming out of there. So I think before anything can happen there, we would have to have a plan to put a modern, state-of-the art sound barrier in there.”

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Dryden Mill Manager Speaks With Rotary Club

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Getting to know more people in the community and updating the community on what Domtar is doing.

That’s what the new Manager of Domtar’s Mill in Dryden, Marie Cyr, is doing with a recent presentation to the Dryden Rotary Club.

Cyr says the 8 months she has spent in Dryden so far has been fantastic as people have been very nice and welcoming.

She says some of her next steps includes building a strategy to ensure the mill remains prosperous for the next 30 years and more, as well as ensuring proper collaboration is present throughout the mill.

She also says she spoke to the Rotary Club to see what Domtar can do to help the club and how they can work together.

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Idled Fort Frances Mill Battle Continues

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More drama between the Town of Fort Frances and Riversedge Developments.

Developer Justus Veldman tells a Sault Ste. Marie publication that the condition of the idled pulp and paper mill makes it impossible to restart.

June Caul says that differs from other opinions.

Caul says “We know that there are people who have been through the mill and they said that they figured it could be re-started. So, we’re getting one message from him but we’ve heard it from another source that we feel that it’s still a viable source to try and re-open.”

Caul says she would like Veldman to take all of council through the facility with a professional engineer and identify what’s wrong or not wrong.

Meantime, she says a tax issue surrounding the mill isn’t completely resolved.

The town posted seizure notices on certain equipment because of a $489,000 tax bill

Justus Veldman said last week that he was working on a resolution, however, June Caul says there’s still some formalities to take care of.

The two sides have been butting heads since Riversedge Developments purchased the idled facility from Resolute Forest Products.

 

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Tensions May Be Easing Between Riversedge And Fort Frances

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There appears to be an agreement between Fort Frances and Riversedge Developments regarding taxes on the mill property.

The town placed a notice of seizure on certain assets this past week.

Developer Justus Veldman isn’t overly upset by the town’s actions.

“Everybody is in their right. I think there’s some misunderstanding. I think we got most of that resolved. I think it’s quite positive actually, the outcome of this.”

Veldman is not disclosing any details surrounding discussions with the municipality.

“I think the town and ourselves at some point are going to come out with a joint statement but at this point we’re positive and actually I think the outcome is an even better working relationship, we are OK.”

Veldman says the taxes are not from past pre-closing, it’s from July to December of this year, so it’s actually taxes ahead.

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Fort Frances Makes Move On Idled Mill

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More drama in Fort Frances surrounding the idled pulp and paper mill.

It appears any relationship the town had with Riversedge Developments appears to be fading.

Earlier this Summer, Resolute Forest Products sold the mill to Riversedge Development for $1.

Mayor June Caul says they’ve had no communication with developer Justus Veldman in almost seven weeks.

Caul says there was a promise made by Veldman to communicate on a bi-weekly basis.

She notes “We’ve been in contact with Red Rock, Sault Ste. Marie, Iroquois Falls, places that he’s been in before, and it has been a disaster in those areas.”

Caul says she has also been working with Northern Development and Mines Minister Greg Rickford and Natural Resources and Forestry John Yakabuski to protect and secure wood rights.

She says she won’t rest until there is something guaranteed in writing.

Caul stresses there are still interested companies wanting to take over the facility.

Caul says Rickford and Yakabuski were to have further meetings on the issue but hasn’t been told if they’ve taken place or their outcome.

Meantime, an outstanding tax bill is giving Fort Frances some leverage to keep the facility intact.

The town has issued a notice of seizure against all personal property located on mill property.

The move comes after reports certain pieces of heavy equipment were recently removed from the site.

According to the notice, more than $489,000 in taxes are owing.

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Local Liberal MP Defends Government’s Role In Idled Mill

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Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Don Rusnak says the federal government can’t force the new owners of the mill in Fort Frances what to do with the property.

Rusnak is responding to calls by the Federal NDP candidate in the riding, Yuk Sem Won, for the Liberals to intervene.

He stresses any assertion the government isn’t doing anything only shows they don’t understand the issue and would rather score political points than find a solution.

Rusnak says they can’t unilaterally force any owner to open or close the property, or even force the province to allocate wood.

He says he has met with prospective purchasers and discussed federal programs that they could access to keep the mill open.

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NDP Candidate Speaks On Fort Frances Mill

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A political hopeful is speaking out about the ongoing uncertainty in Fort Frances over the future of the mill.

A candidate seeking election in the Thunder Bay-Rainy River riding this October feels that the Federal Government should intervene in the recent sale of the idled Resolute Forest Product mill.

Yuk-Sem Won is reacting to reports of conditions placed on the mill, which the Town of Fort Frances says will restrict it from restarting and gaining wood from the Crossroute Forest.

The NDP candidate throws blame on the Liberal Government for failing to support northern Ontario, leaving people in the region to fight on their own.

Won says it’s also time for northern Ontario to control its own resources and steer its own economic development.

The town of Fort Frances announced on July 15th that the mill had been sold.

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Cannabis Production Facility Possible For Idled Fort Frances Mill

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The former Resolute Forest Products mill in Fort Frances could be a new home to a large scale Cannabis production facility.

That’s according to Riversedge Developments, who recently purchased the idled facility.

Developer Justus Veldman says a biomass boiler could be used in that production, “which would allow for the steam to be utilized in the greenhouse and in the operation of the Cannabis grow and the CO2 to be used. And create, potential, significant amount of jobs.”

Veldman says there are no concrete plans right now, but he has also been in conversation with a company interested in restarting the mill for brown bag production.

He says “We’re going through as we promised right now with some proponents who’ve shown an interest through due diligence to see if it’s viable to restart. It does need a tremendous amount of work but we’re giving that some time.”

Veldman notes they still want to gather input on some of the assets and potential future uses.

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Future Of Fort Frances Mill Unknown

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Still a lot of questions regarding the future of the mill in Fort Frances.

Mayor June Caul says it was at a meeting last week with officials from Riversedge Development that she learned of a finalized deal between it and Resolute Forest Products.

Caul says there’s been a lot of rumours, but still no clear understanding what’s to become of the property.

“We’re sitting here, hearing these things, but not absolutely sure whether deals have been made or deals have been completed or what’s going on.”

Caul stresses “We are still working hard to get this mill up and running in some capacity, because we do know that there are still people out there who have been interested and continue to be interested in making a deal so that the mill can restart.”

She says she’s reached out to Rainy River Packaging, a company that expressed interest in the mill earlier this year.

Caul adds she’s still remaining positive that whatever transpires will be good for the community and surrounding area.

 

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