Bell Meets with Kitimat to talk Eurocan

Thursday, February 04, 2010 09:41 AM

Prince George, B.C.- Minister of Forests and Range, Pat Bell, says there may be a chance for the Eurocan mill in Kitimat to survive in one of the two types of paper produced at the site.

“The liner board has really limited use, and the thought of turning the plant into a pulp mill only is very expensive.” He says the future of that plant may be in the production of the kind of paper used for brown paper bags.

He says there have been three potential buyers look at the plant, but at this point there are no offers on the table. Bell says while there is a lot of fibre available in the region, the reality is affordability of harvesting the fibre.

Closing the mill will cost West Fraser $100million dollars, and Bell says the company is doing an excellent job in closing the mill properly and safely.

The mill is in the closure mode, and will be locked up by the middle of this month. The closure has cost 565 direct jobs.

Bell says a recent meeting in the community helped focus the community of Kitimat’s effort on its future direction.

As for Mackenzie, Synar Mas has returned to that community to look at the former Pope and Talbot mill. “I know we have been through this roller coaster ride for some time, but I am more optimistic now than I have been about the future of that mill.” He expects there may be an outcome in 45 days.

Bell remains very positive about the future of forestry in B.C. He says the industry is in transition but that it will be even more important in 2020 as there is better use of the resource and there is a focus on bio energy.

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Posted on Thursday, February 04, 2010 09:41 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Palopu on February 4 2010 10:59 AM

Synar Mas does not have a very good reputation world wide. Especially in the enviromental area.

I wouldnt expect too much from them.

The market for sack kraft brown paper has not been good for years. In fact Canfor has switched most of their production from Brown Paper to bleach paper. A number of sack kraft mills have closed down in the last few years.

Posted by: Denaljo on February 4 2010 11:18 AM

Not to mention Synar Mas's gross violation of human rights!

Posted by: Andyfreeze on February 4 2010 3:26 PM

Actually,Synar Mas has a very BAD international reputation in all areas,including human rights.
Apparently they also have a trail of bad debts as well.
It would be interesting to see how Pat Bell and his government would handle this, should they tender an offer.
MacKenzie has been through enough and they don't need another snow job.
If I remember right,they were also interested in the FSJames/Pope&Talbot mill at one point.
Glad they didn't get it,it's doing just fine without them.

Posted by: Windigo on February 4 2010 9:14 PM

You all not only Synar to worry about, you also now have the weasel Pat Bell to be concerned about. His record record speaks for itself...He is not here to help, the only reason Pat Bell shows up in situations like this is to try to gain brownie points and votes at other peoples expense, kinda like what Gordon Campbell did with Terrace Hockey ville...These guys are a joke, they always has been and always will be.
Pat Bell has successfully lobbied to get the small timber license holders to pool their so called timber to try to attract investors to the area...This was and is a big ruse, all he wanted was the timber to be available to be able to sell all of our jobs into China and other places.
His approach is typical and predictable, the reason it works is because people are so hard done by that they are happy to sell their future away just to have an income.

Posted by: dirtcheap on February 4 2010 9:31 PM

Pat Bell spreading his false hope again,just ask the people of Mackenzie what they think of Mr. Minister of Forests and Lands. They have had to listen to his B.S. for the last two years.