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Paper Excellence to shutter Mackenzie pulp mill

Paper Excellence is permanently closing the Mackenzie Pulp Mill located in Mackenzie, B.C., the company says in a statement.

Production at the mill was originally curtailed in June 2020 due to market impacts caused by COVID-19 and the lack of local economic fibre. A total of 260 employees worked at the mill.

Since acquiring the Mackenzie mill in 2010, Paper Excellence invested more than $360 million in the facility.

But the company says the small production capacity and the fibre issues meant the mill could not be globally competitive.

“Paper Excellence looks forward to the B.C. government’s continued focus on competitive mid-term timber supply and modernization of forest policy while ensuring an equitable distribution of access to forest tenures to support the diversity and competitiveness of the sector and the production of high value products,” says the company.

Where possible, Mackenzie employees have been relocated to other Paper Excellence facilities across Canada. The company will meet the terms of the collective agreement with UNIFOR Local 1092 and make severance payments.

The company says all gaseous, liquid and solid chemicals, and residues have been safely removed from the Mackenzie mill site.

A small number of employees remain to provide 24/7 monitoring while the development of a long-term remediation plan begins and the company explores ways to repurpose the facility in the future.