The $33-million sale of the Port Hawkesbury paper mill is complete, and the first paper rolled off the line in October. One year after the former NewPage facility in Nova Scotia shut down, the sale to Pacific West Commercial Corp. was completed…
The $33-million sale of the Port Hawkesbury paper mill is complete, and the first paper rolled off the line in October. One year after the former NewPage facility in Nova Scotia shut down, the sale to Pacific West Commercial Corp. was completed on Sept. 28. Two hundred and fifty employees returned to work within days.
The mill is restarting under the name Port Hawkesbury Paper.
“We have together embarked on the mission to make Port Hawkesbury Paper the highest quality and most competitive producer of supercalendered paper in North America while at the same time being a great place to work, environmentally responsible and a strong contributor to the province of Nova Scotia,” said Ron Stern, owner of Pacific West Commercial.
The mill will produce thermomechanical pulp and run the supercalendered paper line, but not the newsprint line.
The Nova Scotia government poured $36.8 million into keeping the mill in a hot idle state and supporting the local forest products sector while NewPage Port Hawkesbury was closed.
It also promised a financial aid package to the new owners that included: a $24-million loan to improve productivity and efficiency, a $40-million repayable loan for working capital, $1.5 million to train workers, $20 million to buy 51,500 acres of land, and $3.8 million annually, for 10 years, from the forestry restructuring fund to support sustainable harvesting and forest land management. The support package was tweaked at the last minute when the mill purchase threatened to fall apart due to Pacific West Commercial not receiving a favorable advance tax ruling from the Canada Revenue Agency.
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