Conifex Hopes to Re Start Ft. St James Mill As Soon As Feasible

Tuesday, September 16, 2008 04:00 AM

Ft. St. James, B.C. - There is news on two Ft. St. James mills today, and in this case there is good news, and sort of good news.

First the good news.

Conifex, the new owners of the Ft. St. James sawmill, has circulated a letter to the residents of the town of Ft. St. James, and to former workers at that mill. The newsletter introduces Conifex as the new owner, and promises the mill will run again, “as soon as is feasible”. There is no date given.

Still, the letter outlines severeal reasons for optimism, including the new owners work to establish business “Infrastructure” such as technoliyg, e-mail systems, accouts payable and receivables, employee benefit and pension plans and payroll. The notice goes on to say the owners are also trying to secure agreements for raw materials, marketing and sales of products and by products.

As for employees, the purchase agreement includes Conifex paying hourly vacation pay. How and when that will be honoured is under discussion. Perhaps the most positive note of all in the newsletter comes in the last line “Conifex is committed to supplying quality products, retention and recruitment of skilled labour, and contributing to the sustainability of the community.”

Now for the "sort of" good news.

West Fraser has entered into an agreement to acquire the shares of Stuart Lake Lumber Co. Ltd. which owns a sawmill in Fort St. James, and a forest license. The transaction is expected to close at the end of October.

The sawmill, which has been closed since Spring 2007, does not currently have any operational employees and the forest license has not been active since the mill closure.

"The Company will evaluate options over the next several months," says Wayne Clogg, West Fraser's Senior Vice-President, Woodlands. "We expect this acquisition to benefit West Fraser when the current market conditions improve and to enhance the Company's long-term fibre supply in the face of expected Mountain Pine Beetle-related supply effects."

West Fraser has no immediate plans to start-up the sawmill.

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Posted on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 04:00 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on September 16 2008 6:10 AM

Forestry is the only thing to keep FSJ going.

The natives ("First National") won't let any mines get past the discussion stage. The biggest and easiest bucks to be made on mining for First National is the discussion bankroll. Anyone that wants to start up a mine is welcome to pay First National to talk about it, forever. Once the mine opens there are only jobs.

Posted by: northman on September 16 2008 7:29 AM

Yama..The current economy wont support anyone who doesnt want to work and be smart to earn money. The mine permiting process is now bound by legislation that includes first nations. Anyone who doesnt agree with the permiting process or wants extra policy's besides it is shit out of luck. They missed their chance to when legislation was introduced! Things are going to get very intersting once the governent starts pinching pennys in the wake of an economic melt down.

Posted by: Mercenary on September 16 2008 10:27 AM

Well this is a bit of good news for Ft.St.James. I hope the new owners of both mills fire them up soon.

As a trucker who is hoping for the Milligan mine to open soon I think the natives have a legitimate beef and need to be included into the Mine permit process. However I do believe that they also need to realise that we need jobs. I don't wish to sacrifice the enviroment for the sake of those jobs but if some outside influence is needed to keep these mining companies honest then so be it.

Posted by: Howrd_B_Stern on September 16 2008 10:39 AM

This is good news for Fort St. James. It is good to hear that Stuart Lake Sawmill may be opening again as well. In terms of employment, many local Aboriginal people were employed at SLM.

Here's hoping those mills open soon.

Posted by: RugratsMom on September 16 2008 1:30 PM

So Stuart Lake is being bought by West Fraser...interesting. Try to keep that wood in Fort St. James Mr. Mayor.

Posted by: Robin Hood on September 17 2008 10:31 PM

West Fraser just secured another source of timber for Fraser Lake by purchasing Stuart Lake.

Better off turning Stuart Lake Lumber into a truck stop....

Posted by: markgb98 on September 18 2008 7:21 AM

You got it robin, no where does it say they will open the mill. in the p.g citizen article it states the main purpose for the purchase was for a long term timber supply. It would be great if they open the doors again but with there being no legistasion keeping the logs attached to the mill we'll see alot of trucks leaving town. Election coming up hopfully there will be some change if not I can see alot of angry loggers and mill workrs taking matters into there own hands, lets hope it dosn't come to that.

Posted by: Shellshadow on September 18 2008 10:23 AM

Well I am happy for Fort St James. It used to be the capital city as history tells it. I lived there for a year and a half and found the comunity very unique. I would seriously concider retiring there!! Let us look on the positive side of things and hope that West Fraser steps up to the plate. *Fingers Crossed

Posted by: reydsa on September 18 2008 4:15 PM

By what stretch of the imagination is West Fraser buying Stuart Lake Lumber sort of good news. This is the worst thing that could have happened for the town. Why would they run the mill here when they have one in Fraser Lake. It's made quite clear in the press release that their main objective was to secure a future timber supply for their company. The only hope for the town and the people in it is that Conifex stands by their word and gets their mill up and running as soon as possible before there aren't enough workers left in town to run it.

Posted by: Robin Hood on September 18 2008 8:16 PM

Albeit Conifex buying the mill is a good thing, the price of lumber has pretty much peaked for 2008.

Granted, you've got to run the mill to keep the people in town, but Conifex isn't a charity organization. If they aren't going to make money, then it is unlikely the doors will open.