After much deliberation Canfor has come to the decision to continue operation at its Mackenzie mill.
After much deliberation Canfor has come to the decision to continue operation at its Mackenzie mill.
An initial announcement on May 22 confirmed plans to indefinitely shut the mill, but since that date the company has collaborated with employees and the unions to improve efficiency at the facility and with the provincial government to reduce the mills delivered log costs. With these efforts, Canfor says, management believes that sufficient progress has been made that operating the mill on a reconfigured basis will be viable.
Modifications will be made to the mill in order to improve throughput and to facilitate operation of the A mill on a three-shift basis. We have been very clear that we needed to significantly reduce our delivered log costs and improve efficiency at the mill in order for us to continue operation, said CEO Jim Shepard. Through the hard work of our employees, and the valuable support of the union and the provincial government for improving access to fibre, we have made tremendous progress in this regard.
The mill is expected to be operating under its new configuration by the end of August. The new format will result in the loss of roughly 130 jobs and 150 million board feet of capacity.
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