News Packaging Paper Pulp
Resolute rejects Repap’s bid for Fort Frances pulp mill

March 21, 2019 – Resolute has rejected the offer by Repap Resources Group (under the name Rainy River Packaging) to purchase an idled pulp mill in Fort Frances, Ontario.

According to CBC News, the company informed Fort Frances mayor June Caul via letter on Monday.

On Friday, Repap said it had submitted a “multi-million-dollar” bid to buy the property and reopen the mill, which closed in 2014.

In Resolute’s letter, the company said Repap’s offer “fell short on multiple levels.”

Resolute had already signed an agreement with a redevelopment company in January, but had until March 15 to review other bids.

The developer will likely demolish the mill to create a community space, and Resolute would retain its access to the Crossroute Forest, the main source of fibre supply for the area, until at least 2022 when its license expires.

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Yves Laflamme, president and CEO, reportedly wrote in the letter that Repap did not secure sufficient financing, nor did it provide the necessary financial deposit.

“I am profoundly disappointed to see Resolute Forest Products reject the offer to buy and reopen the mill,” says Greg Rickford, MPP for Kenora-Rainy River and Ontario’s minister of energy, mines, northern development and Indigenous affairs, in a statement on his Facebook page. “I believe the paper mill is viable, and I know the community will continue to explore options that would see the mill open again.”

Read the full story here.