Quebec’s SGF (Société générale de financement) is investing $100 million in Cascades to enable Cascades to acquire the remaining 50% interest of Norampac Inc, held by Domtar Inc. The purchase total is $560 million.

SGF is a holding company that is owned by the Quebec government.

Norampac owns eight containerboard mills and twenty-six corrugated products
plants in the United States, Canada and France.

Sources:
Cascades Completes the Acquisition of Domtar’s 50% Stake in Norampac (Cascades Press Release)
Cascades gets boost to acquire Norampac – Announces deal with Domtar is complete (Globe and Mail)

More details about Bowater‘s quick decision to indefinitely close their Ignace Sawmill can be found in today’s Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal:

Cuts hit Bowater sawmills

In addition to closing the Ignace operation, Bowater has laid off 16 workers (out of 145 employees) at its Thunder Bay sawmill located next to Fort William First Nation. Production will be scaled back at the Thunder Bay operation with the mill’s two 10-hour shifts reduced to eight-hour shifts.

Both cut backs, and Buchanan’s decision earlier this week to shut down the operations at three of its sawmills for a couple of weeks, are being blamed on the new softwood lumber agreement and the lumber quotas it imposed on producers.

Workers at the Ignace sawmill will be paid until January 1st, 2007.

Workers at Bowater’s sawmill in Ignace, Ontario showed up at work this morning to find the mill closed.

The sawmill closure is indefinite. 29 staff positions and 20 contractor positions are affected.

Bowater spokesperson Georges Cabana says current market conditions and the insufficient level of quota allocations for sawmills in Ontario resulting from the softwood lumber deal are to blame. Cabana said the company regrets the decision, especially so close to Christmas. Cabana says Bowater only received notification of its quota volume on December 15th and that the new quotas will be implemented starting January 1st.

The town of Ignace is shocked with the mayor reporting that the closure was unexpected.

Sources:
Ignace Sawmill Closed (CKDR Radio)
Northern Ontario sawmill shuts down; close to 50 people lose their job (CBC)

In a follow-up to a previous story, the Algoma Metis Loggers Inc. have delayed their protest harvest that they had originally scheduled for yesterday.

They have decided to hold off on their illegal cut for a month while they look over an offer from the Ministry of Natural Resources that could lead to the group obtaining access to the Algoma Forest.

“They want us to fall under Clergue (Forest Management)’s license and that’s becoming a stumbling block for us,” Michel Blais, a spokesman for the group, said. “There’s no respect on the land at all (in) what’s going on right now.”

Clergue Forest Management, is a partnership of six forestry companies including St. Marys Paper and Boniferro Mill Works. Clergue holds the sustainable forest license for the Algoma Forest, an area of forested land that stretches from St. Joseph Island to the Wawa area.

Source:
Metis logging group calls off protest (Chronicle Journal)

Tembec has been awarded Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for the Cranbrook and Kootenay Lake forests of British Columbia.

Tembec already has certification of its Invermere and Tree Farm License 14 forests. In addition, its four manufacturing facilities in British Columbia are also FSC certified: Two softwood lumber sawmills located in Elko and Canal Flats, a finger joint plant in Cranbrook and the softwood kraft pulp
mill at Skookumchuck.

Tembec’s total forested area that is now FSC certified in British Columbia is 640,000 hectares.

“The certification of these forests brings the total area under FSC certification to 8.6 million hectares (21 million acres), which represents approximately 90% of the Canadian forestland managed by Tembec. This level of certification is unparalleled and confirms the commitment of the Company on this front. The certification of these forestlands, in conjunction with the parallel certification of our various wood products operations and our Skookumchuk pulp mill, provide Tembec with a fully integrated FSC certified capability for our BC operations. This is a significant accomplishment and one that we take great pride in.”
- Dennis Rounsville, Executive Vice President and President of Tembec’s Forest Products Group

Tembec received its certification from SmartWood, a Forest Stewardship Council accredited certifier. The certification was granted following an in-depth audit process that found that the Company’s forest management practices comply with FSC’s rigorous standards for environmentally and socially responsible forestry practices.

Source:
Tembec delivers FSC Certification in SE British Columbia (Tembec Press Release)

The financially troubled Meadow Lake pulp mill in Saskatchewan has been sold to the Sinar Mas Group – who also controls Asia Pulp and Paper (based out of Singapore).

The purchase is a good fit, since the Sinar Mas Group is the mill’s largest customer for the pulp produced at the Meadow Lake mill.

The Sinar Mas Group is based in Indonesia. They will buy the mill for $38 million – which is just a fraction of the amount of money that has been invested in the mill. The Saskatchewan Government alone has invested an estimated $875 million.

The Meadow Lake pulp mill is currently jointly owned by the province of Saskatchewan and Millar Western. The mill has lost $321 million since 1990, and the province has missed out on $595 million in interest.

Don Roberts, managing director for CIBC World Markets, thinks this could be the beginning of a trend, and that the troubled Prince Albert pulp mill could be purchased next:

“You’re seeing more and more. The reality is that Asia is short of fibre. Their paper capacity is growing much more rapidly than is their ability to grow the fibre that is going to feed it. They just don’t have the fibre. The plantations they’ve got have generally been failures.”
“So how are you going to feed this? Well, you feed it by imports and this will just continue. I think that they will look at assets over here and buy them on the cheap.”

Sources:
Buyer anounced for Pulp Mill (News Talk 980)
Meadow Lake mill sold to Indonesian company (CBC)
Mill sale could start trend Meadow Lake purchase could help reopen P.A. mill, CIBC analyst suggests (The StarPhoenix)

Buchanan Forest Products has announced temporary shutdowns at its three Thunder Bay area mills: both Great West Timber mills and the Northern Hardwood sawmill.

Due to a build up in their lumber inventory, the mills will have shutdowns that last at least 2 weeks. The Northern Hardwood mill will be idled until the second week of January. 550 people workers in total will be temporarily off the job.

Buchanan is optimistic that the U.S. lumber market will rebound early in 2007.

Source:
Layoffs at three Buchanan mills (Thunder Bay Source)

Abitibi Consolidated has planned another shut down for its Mission Mill operation near Thunder Bay.

The shut down will begin on Sunday December 17th and will last for 3 weeks.

The Mission Mill had a two week shut down in October and in November. The long-term future of the mill is seriously being questioned.

The shut down that begins this weekend is being blamed on a lack of paper orders. The Mission Mill is the highest cost operation for Abitibi Consolidated, so paper orders are directed at the company’s other mills that are more cost competitive.

200 employees work inside the mill. The woodland workers will also be on a temporary layoff during the shutdown.

Source:
Mission Mill shuts down again (Thunder Bay’s Source)

Kruger Inc. invested $170 million in investments and 750 new jobs in Quebec’s North Shore. Now Kruger said those investments and the jobs have been “seriously compromised” by the province.

Quebec’s chief forester, Pierre Levac, announced last week that wood harvest quotas will be cut in half in various areas of the province between 2008 and 2013. This reduction is planned to end overcutting of the province’s wood supply. This reduction is on top of the 20% reduction that was already announced last March.

The harvest reductions would eliminate 42% of Kruger’s potential harvest in the North Shore region.

The North Shore has only seen harvesting in the last 8 years. There was no previous forestry activity. The current harvest is chipped and supplies the Wayagamack mill in Trois-Rivières, Quebec where 620 workers are employed. Kruger invested $500 million in to this mill to restart it, in partnership with the Société générale de financement du Québec (SGF).

In addition to the Wayagamack mill, Kruger has 3 other mills in the area – in Forestville, Longue-Rive, and Ragueneau.

Kruger has also faced legal disputes and court injunctions sought by native groups over logging rights on the North Shore.

Source:
750 lumber jobs in Quebec’s North Shore at risk: Kruger Company says its wood-harvest quotas would drop by 42% under chief forester’s calculations (CBC)

Spray Lake Sawmills is planning to be proactive in the fight against the Mountain Pine Beetle in Alberta.

The Spray Lake Sawmills’ Forest Management Agreement area includes areas with highly susceptible pine stands. These pine stands are mature thanks to years of fire suppression. Spray Lake Sawmills is planning to harvest these susceptible pine stands before they are ravaged by the approaching Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic.

The areas that will be harvested in the summer of 2007 are west of Calgary including the Jumping Pound, west Ghost and east Ghost areas.

Spray Lake Sawmills is preparing these harvest plans in accordance with the Alberta Mountain Pine Beetle Action Plan and all other applicable Government legislation, policy and regulations.

Source:
Spray Lake Sawmills Developing Harvest Plans in Areas West of Calgary to Combat the Mountain Pine Beetle (Press Release)