Major Structural Failure Idles Mackenzie Pulpmill

Thursday, February 17, 2011 02:28 PM

Prince George, B.C. - A major structural failure at Pope and Talbot's Mackenzie Pulpmill has idled production...

Mill Manager, Doug Van Buskirk, says what started out as a tube leak on a recovery boiler at the mill yesterday morning took a disastrous turn for the worse around four yesterday afternoon, when the first tower in the bleaching plant ruptured. Van Buskirk says the tower split near the top and peeled open like a can - the pulp in the 22-metre structure spilled to the floor below, causing substantial damage to the area.

Van Buskirk says no one was injured in the incident and there are no environmental concerns because the spillage was contained in the facility. He says WorkSafe BC is on-site and an engineer is en route from Vancouver to investigate.

The mill's 225 employees remain on the job today and clean up efforts are underway.

Van Buskirk says it's too early to say what may have caused the rupture. "We are only in the process of cleaning up, and until it's cleaned, then we'll be able to look and see what has to be secured before we can go into the area and do any investigations, so it will be a while yet before we can start."

He says the employees will remain on the job for at least the next few days until the company knows what the next steps will be. The mill manager will not comment on the dollar value of lost production.

Mackenzie Pulpmill re-opened in August, after being closed for two-and-a-half years.

Previous Story - Next Story

Email |

Print |

Facebook |

Twitter |

Digg |

Del.icio.us

Posted on Thursday, February 17, 2011 02:28 PM in News by 250 News

Return to Home

Comments

Posted by: Resident on February 17 2011 3:33 PM

Pope and Talbot.............I don't think so.

Posted by: Mercenary on February 17 2011 3:51 PM

Ouch....well hopefully they can get it repaired and back up and running soon.

Posted by: interceptor on February 17 2011 3:51 PM

Sinar Mas now, is it not? or a subsidiary of?

Posted by: Andyfreeze on February 17 2011 6:02 PM

Paper Excellence apparently own the mill.
And I,yes,I think they are Sinar Mas in a disguise.

Posted by: He spoke on February 17 2011 6:30 PM

My wild @$$ guess, to bring in boiler makers to fix it. Well, Lets say 10 million dollars. and 6 to 10 weeks

If I remember correctly that mill is still a batch digester and not a continuous digestor. So they just might install a continuous digestor, and throw in 30 to 40 million. Hmmmm interesting

Posted by: Palopu on February 17 2011 10:50 PM

I think it goes like this;

Sinar Mas, owns Asia Pulp and Paper, and they own Paper Excellence, which owns the MacKenzie mill.

In any event this is not good news. That is a huge expenditure to get this mill up and running again.

Posted by: Jim13135 on February 18 2011 5:24 AM

The highlight of the story: "no one was injured"......

You would think that they would have those towers x-rayed periodically to check for flaws in th structure????

Posted by: x-pt on February 18 2011 5:46 AM

He Spoke, I suggest you stop speaking because you don't know what you're talking about. The mill has never been a batch process, it has two digesters, a Kamyr and an M&D that operate continuously. They will likely replace the first bleaching tower which is just a steel vessel lined with tiles and this will take some time. When the rebuilding of the tower is going on, they could run the mill without the first bleaching tower by changing the bleaching process - and I bet they're working hard on that right now. $30 or 40 million??? B.S.

Posted by: boomer on February 18 2011 7:48 AM

Well he said "wild@$$ quess. and If I remember correctly".

Posted by: crazylegshinch on February 18 2011 10:34 AM

Used to work there myself. Glad nobody was hurt. Of all the things that can explode in that place, that was probably lucky. I do sort of worry if this is a sign of things to come though.

Posted by: tractor on February 18 2011 11:32 AM

Bummer. I have worked there too as a contractor. Upkeep seemed to be a bit laxed 10 to 15 yrs. ago, but since the ownership change it has been much better. I truly wish them luck in a successful future. Mackenzie really depends on it.

Posted by: gamblor on February 18 2011 3:05 PM

good. I hope they shut this mill down. It makes stinky fumes that bother my assmar. All the workers can run eco-hikes through the forests they once destroyed and live happily ever after.

Posted by: mythoughts on February 20 2011 8:08 AM

gamblor, I hope you lose your job or whatever it is that pays for the roof over your head! What a dumb thing to say. Jobs are way more important than YOUR asthma! Move if you don't like it because the mill is not shutting down.