Pat Bell Confident Abitibi-Bowater Will Re-Open Saw Mills In Mackenzie

Monday, December 17, 2007 03:57 AM

Prince George, BC. - Agriculture Minister Pat Bell says there is a good chance that Abitibi Bowater will reopen its two saw mills in Mackenzie when the down turn in the industry is over.

Bell says there is a large volume of saw logs waiting to be milled in that community and that gives every indication that the company intends to re open that portion of its operations.

Bell says he met with representatives from the United Steel Workers, Senior Management, District Council and other elected officials late last week.

The mill management team Bell says feels that the two sawmills will reopen, but they don’t know when.

"I think the mills will look different in a changing environment" Bell says, "it may be that they will operate with lfewer shifts."

When Canfor shut down their operations he said, the log yards are always bare." This is not the case in Mackenzie the yard has lots of logs in it."

The paper mill, Bell says, will be different, "I don’t see it coming back on stream but there is good hope for the sawmills, the problem is that it is going to be very tough going to get there."

Previous Story - Next Story

Email |

Print |

Facebook |

Twitter |

Digg |

Del.icio.us

Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 03:57 AM in News by 250 News

Return to Home

Comments

Posted by: giterdun on December 17 2007 7:53 AM

WHAT ABOUT THE PULP MILL,PAT?

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on December 17 2007 7:57 AM

Couldn't Abitibi Bowater sells the logs in their yard?

Posted by: Eagleone on December 17 2007 8:09 AM

I don't understand how Pat Bell thinks the saw mills will open, but not the pulp mill? The saw mills will not make a profit on their wood for at least a couple of years, and the only profit they make these days is off selling their chips to the pulp mill. If the pulp mill does not open in Mackenzie is Pat assuming Canfor will take those chips... and if so will the distence involved effect the profitability of chips to keep the saw mills operational? Or is Pat just blowing in the wind....

I think the key is to keep the pulp mill operational so as to create the regional synergies to enable the saw mills to stay operational.

Posted by: Parrothead on December 17 2007 8:10 AM

Yes, yes they could.

Posted by: Parrothead on December 17 2007 8:11 AM

It's not a pulp mill, Eagleone, it's a newsprint mill. Newsprint is a dying breed. Significant investment would be required to refit it for another paper product. It might happen, but I doubt it.

Posted by: Eagleone on December 17 2007 8:47 AM

Newsprint mills still require spilt off fiber from the saw mills to operate. For a saw mill perspective the split off from raw log to lumber and secondary is either a secondary revenue stream via bulk shipments of fiber to the newsprint mill, or it feeds a beehive burner at the cost of a lower contribution margin from its raw resource for covering its overhead costs and thus a greater if not sole reliance on lumber to pay all the overhead costs. I just don't see that happening.

Posted by: jus cuz i can on December 17 2007 8:58 AM

IMO...Pat is blowing in the wind!
He didn't say that he met with officials from Abitibi head offices in Quebec.
That is where the real decision was made.

Posted by: northman on December 17 2007 10:10 AM

Once again where is Rich Coleman?

Posted by: lmorg on December 17 2007 11:45 AM

What a joke. You don't need to be einstein to figure out that a mill will reopen if the market becomes profitable again. D'oh.

Posted by: Palopu on December 17 2007 5:56 PM

The newsprint mill will probably never open. As previously stated Newsprint is a hard sell these days.

I suspect Canfor is looking to buy up the Sawmills which of course would give them the timber. It would also allow them to shut down a couple of mills in the Prince George area, say Rustads, and Clear Lake.

The pulp mill in Mackenzies is owned by Pope and Talbot who have gone into receiverhip, so the pulp mill could also close.

What Eagle One doesnt understand is that we already send woodchips from Taylor BC to Vancouver for export to Japan so there is a market for chips.

Posted by: Parrothead on December 17 2007 7:16 PM

Palopu - exactly!

Posted by: vulcan on December 18 2007 8:08 AM

Pat met with the local mill heads, and I really don't think that they even now what is going on. My understanding is that Abitibibowater in Montreal is not commenting or talking to anyone. I would really like to see an inquirey into the merge between the 2 companies, my personal opion is that there was some funny business going on behind the scenes. If canfor buys the Abitibibowater mills, I think Mackenzie would be in big trouble.

Posted by: BCRacer on December 18 2007 11:31 AM

Did Pat Bell actually figure this out on his own? or did he have a lot of prodding.
"Yes Sir!, Yes Sir!"