About 400 workers at Terrace Bay Pulp will be back at work by mid-August. The bankruptcy court has approved the company's plan of arrangement, and Terrace Bay is expected to exit creditor protection on Aug. 17.
The plant has already begun ramping up operations to restart the pulp mill.
"The (court) monitor has approved the expenditures related to mill start-up and the return to work of affected employees," a company news release said. "In this regard, Terrace Bay Pulp expects to have its full work force engaged by Aug. 16."
The company, a division of Thunder Bay-based Buchanan Group, has been in protection from creditors since March 2009.
Terrace Bay Mayor Mike King said the sense of relief in the one-industry town won‘t likely sink in until workers have received a couple of paycheques, reported the Chronicle Journal on July 28.
"People have been off (work) for a long time, and they‘re just very anxious to get back," said King. For the past 20 months, he added, "we‘ve just been going on faith that the mill was going to restart."
According to the Chronicle Journal, idled Buchanan Group lumber mills in Nakina and Longlac are expected to restart to supply TBP with wood chips once the pulp mill is back in full production.
A statement from Terrace Bay Pulp earlier in July noted that it had come to an agreement in principle with the province for a secure, economical and sustainable wood supply.