Hampton To Rebuild Burns Lake Mill
Monday, September 17, 2012 @ 11:30 AM
Burns Lake, B.C. – Hampton Affiliates has announced it will re-build the Babine Forest Products mill destroyed by fire in January of this year. Hampton Affiliate President CEO Steve Zika says "there is no way to reverse the terrible tragedy that took the lives of two of our employees" but announced the rebuild of a mill will be a step towards assisting the community to recover.
Zika says the new mill will be smaller, but will be state of the art, and should be ready to start production in 2014. While the cost of the mill is not yet finalized, Zika says insurance will pay for much of it, although not all of it. He also says that because the mill will be smaller, with a capacity of 200 – 240 million board feet per year, (about 100 million board feet less than the previous mill), the new mill will only need between 50% to 2/3 of the former work force. He also expects it would operate on two shifts instead of three.
The announcement came at a gathering of the company officials, 1st Nations, the community of Burns Lake and the provincial government in Burns Lake this morning.
Burns Lake Mayor Luke Strimbold says "We’re all delighted to hear the news this morning. It shows the optimism in our community, we continue to be united and support the rebuild of the mill in the community, and it should be something we are proud of and work to make it happen."
Key to the reopening is a program whereby the company will be able to access more fibre through an agreement with the 1st Nations in the area.
That program is expected to free upwards of 600,000 cubic meters of fibre, although Minister of Jobs, Pat Bell says some of that fibre is marginal at the present for harvest but he says Hampton feels that the markets will improve in the next few years to a point where it will be economically feasible to harvest this timber.
Chief Albert Gerow, who is President and CEO of the BLNDC and attended the recent Hampton Board meeting, said, "The explosion and loss of two lives at Babine Forest Products was a huge tragedy to the employees, the families, and the community. A decision not to rebuild the mill would also be a huge tragedy." Chief Gerow added, "We look forward to strengthening our partnership with Hampton as we work to emerge with a long-term viable business that is vital to First Nations throughout the Lakes District."
Pat Bell says, “It is a happy day for the people of Burns Lake , with the announcement the people of this region can look to the future in this area with a feeling of confidence. I am proud to have worked on this file and to see it come to this conclusion".
Two people died, several others were injured when an explosion and fire ripped through the mill in January of this year. The destruction of the mill, the primary employer in the community, left 250 out of work and the community struggling to develop options to kick start its economy.
Comments
That’s great news for Burns Lake. I wonder how many people the smaller more technologically advanced mill will employ.
Excellent news.
Here is a modern Finnish sawmill
http://www.woodproductsonlineexpo.com/slinkimages/72/cwp_07_07_finish_mill.pdf
50 million board feet per year with a total of 100 employees per week (5 production workers per shift and 6 maintenance employees on weekends)
And here is what the Chinese are doing with Canadian logs at their most modern mill which will sell the finished products back to Canada as well as Japan.
http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=0e1e127c-8b33-4c9f-b4be-f329dfb19699&sponsor=
âStandard has invested $50 million in the sawmill complex. At its heart is a $15-million German-designed production line that on this day is feeding evenly sized B.C. hemlock logs into a de-barker and spitting them out onto a line where they are sliced efficiently into lumber by high-speed blades. The blades are so thin, they leave a very fine dust that drifts in the air, rather than coarse chips of sawdust. Three technicians operate it from a control room overlooking the automated line. The entire operation requires no more than 15 people per shift.â
What is the latest info from someone who understands these kind of dynamic economic and trade environments in the context of BC’s access to timber in the next 10 to 40 years?
All we are getting is little tidbits here and there.
Nice to see that the Mill will be rebuilt.
Even with less employee’s it will be a benefit to the people in the area, and thats as it should be.
Burns Lake, and other towns dependent of fibre should be looking at other types of industry, be it cattle, hogs, sheep, or root vegetables, plus becoming a supply station for their surrounding areas.
Vanderhoof as an example is getting a RONA, and this will allow people and business in the area to get some of their requirements without having to come to Prince George.
Although Prince George is a central service area for the central interior, the fact of the matter is, it, like the Walmarts, and Home Depot’s etc; suck the life blood out of small communitys.
Palopu,
I agree with you on the mill being rebuilt. Any time a business is prepared to invest insurance money rather than run is a good thing. Imagine what would have happened if the mill had not burned down. I suspect that it would be shut within five years.
As for Walmarts and Home Depot`s etc, there I don`t agreet.
IMO service centres are just that, service centres. Only 19th century thinking would have hardware stores,etc in every community. The cost of goods efficiencies that larger communities and business bring to outlying communities, in fact allows these smaller communities to thrive, but in a 21st century model; not the horse buggy era.
Cheers and have a good day!
What the hell? so they announce they are going to rebuild maybe?? providing the Burns lake band agrees to what?? the Town of Burns Lake agrees to what?? and sounds like they still want more wood fibre? So really what do we have here? stall. In December what happens? another announcment they will really rebuild? or won’t, such BS leaves workers with what? more announcments more delay sounds like the WIC.
Great news for the area and forestry in general.
This is a pleasant surprise.
On the heels of the provincial timber review, I would have thought they would just want this mill to fade into history.
I would have bet that canfor and west fraser would have squashed this from happenning and bell’s head along with it.
Good for Burns Lake!
I really dont like the Hampton Way. I think this company has done nothing but munipulate employees, the first nations people, the community and the government.
I would like to know what they need from the ‘the town’ too.
The rights to the community forest?
They are bullying, this community. I hope people take a long hard look at the entire situation.
People are afraid. People need answers. Hampton is willing to them …as long as they get everything they want. What a shame.
Runner46. It depends on what you call a small community.
Quesnel has a population of approx 11000 people and they now have
1. Canadian Tire
2. Great Cdn Superstore
3. Walmart
4. Staples
5. Save-on-Foods
6. Lordco.
Plus some others. Once these business’s established in Quesnel it was no loger necessary for people in the surrounding areas to come to Prince George.
I think that Burns Lake, or Houston could do the same thing to service that area. Terrace is a natural for the Kitimat, Terrace, surroundeing area.
Vanderhoof is a natural for Ft St James, Ft Fraser, Fraser Lake, Endako, etc;
Coming to Prince George especially in the winter months, to get nebulous savings is not the smartest way to shop. Just the price of gas, along with the cost of a hotel, motel, plus tourist taxes, is enough to get people to look at alternatives.
Its not 19th century thinking. Its common sense thinking. Times change, people change.
I just bought a new battery for my laptop. Ordered it from Richmond from Battery specialists. Was put in the mail the next day after I was shopping on the net in the middle of the night. Arrived at home 2 days later. Less than 73 hours and could have been faster had I been willing to pay an extra $10.
Such purchases in the USA are delivered by express Fedex, UPS, or whatever at no cost with minimum purchases typically of around $50 I think.
Such operation can run from anywhere which has a direct overnight road or air connection and probably a rail connection to container shipments. For anything else other than such bulk shipments, rail in does not work in this country. Maybe some day long into the future.
So, we have local, intermediate, and distant regional suppliers as well as international suppliers.
Each product has a delivery radius unique to the product, transportation radius based on cost and time and market size included within those coverable areas.
All of that is variable. A business which sets up one year as a viable business may no longer be viable in 3 years, 5 years, 10 years.
It is all flexible. There is no certainty. Those who believe in certainty in product creation and marketing are ludites.
Palopu,
Quesnel has a population of 22,000 give or take.
Burns Lake, 2100
Smithers , 5200
Terrace, 11,486
Williams Lake, 10,800
Rupert, 12,558
It seems the tipping point for any “service centrer” is about 20,000…
There was a day not too long ago that The Northern was the go to place for the Central Interior, and probably still is.
As for travelling to PG in the winter, I agree with you, but the parking lot at Costco and Esthers on almost any weekend tells me that the out of towners are voting with their wallets….
Thank God we don`t have the bars like way back then,,,
A drop in AAC of 30% meaning 8 fewer mills in the area in 5-10 years and Hampton is planning to rebuild. Burns Lake is mostly pine forests as well.
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