Mackenzie pulp mill attracts interest of Sinar Mas again

Sinar Mas, the parent company of Asia Pulp & Paper, is taking a second look at the Mackenzie pulp mill.

The mill is now under the control of the Mackenzie Pulp Mill Development Corporation who took over maintenance of the mill site from the British Columbia provincial government. The government had seized control of the mill from Worthington Mackenzie to dispose of the toxic chemicals.

The Mackenzie Pulp Mill Development Corp. includes local investors from the Mackenzie, British Columbia area: Fort St. James-based K&D Logging, the McLeod Lake Indian Band-owned Duz Cho Logging, Vancouver Island-based Interior Fibre Management, and Tanner Elton & Associates.

The Development Corp. have spent over a million dollars this winter keeping a skeleton crew at the mill to keep vital equipment from freezing.

Tanner Elton, head of the Mackenzie Pulp Mill Development Corp., said yesterday that talks are taking place with Sinar Mas to purchase the pulp mill.

A number of obstacles stand in the way of a deal, especially long-term access to fibre. Now that prices for pulp and lumber are improving, the idled Mackenzie mill is attracting investor interest.

It’s not the first time Sinar Mas has been interested in the mill. In 2008, the company was negotiating the purchase three pulp mills and a sawmill from bankrupt Pope & Talbot, That deal, for $225 million, fell apart.

Read more:
Asian forestry giant takes second look at Mackenzie pulp mill (Vancouver Sun)