News Water & Chemicals
N.S. disputes conditions of Northern Pulp’s $50M loan deal

Northern Pulp’s parent companies have offered a $50-million loan that they say would allow the mill to pay severance to its workers and continue its idling process, but the province of Nova Scotia is disputing the deal.

According to a report by The Chronicle Herald, the loan – which has been put together by Paper Excellence Canada and Pacific Harbor North American Resources Ltd. – comes with conditions.

The loan terms state that by 2022, the mill would need approval from the province’s environment department to build a new wastewater treatment facility.

The province would also have to agree to co-fund the design and construction of the effluent plant, and, by way of a court settlement, agree to pay lost profits and damages incurred while the mill was idle.

Northern Pulp says that no other companies were interested in interim financing and that without this loan, its cash will dry up in early August.

It says the $50 million loan would be used to pay severance to laid-off employees, salaries of the skeletal staff still working at the mill during the shutdown, the mill’s share of the Boat Harbour cleanup, and the environmental research needed to obtain the province’s approval for a new wastewater treatment facility.

The province has filed its opposition to the Northern Pulp deal in British Columbia, where the company is currently undergoing creditor protection proceedings. Paper Excellence Canada is headquartered in B.C.

On Jul .24, Northern Pulp will request that B.C.’s top court dismiss the opposition and allow the financing deal to proceed.

Read the full story from The Chronicle Herald.