West Fraser Buys Stuart Lake Lumber

But no guarantee it will open; may just want the timber rights.

West Fraser has reached an agreement to buy Stuart Lake Lumber, which owns a sawmill in Fort St. James shut down since the spring of 2007.
The mill will not be operating any time soon because of market conditions, West Fraser would consider all of its options.
Forest industry analyst Paul Quinn said West Fraser is making a smart move by buying the mill for its long-term timber rights

.
---link

Meanwhile, Conifex is trying to start up the old Pope&Talbot mill but is experiencing some delays
---link

Least Imaginative Use Makes Headlines

Alberta to make newsprint from beetle-damaged wood
Of all the thousands of uses for the beetle-killed wood, the least imaginative (grind it up and make pulp) is tearing up the 'news' these days. Perhaps it's because it's Alberta the most Tory-friendly, least imaginative Province in the country.
Perhaps it's because Alberta has decided to actually do something, rather than simply flap their gums endlessly and gobble up grant after grant, study after study, proposal after proposal while the wood rots in the forest and becomes a serious fire hazard.
Time for British Columbia to put it's money where it's mouth is!
----CBC source

Good, Bad, and Ugly News

The Good: The Receiver has found a buyer for Mackenzie Pulp, a numbered Alberta company which already owns several pulp mills. They'll be in court today asking it to approve the sale, and to uphold Canfor's obligation to supply chips.
---from opinion250

The Bad (which is really another good): Terrane has reached an agreement with GoldCorp that allows them to acquire a direct joint interest in the Mt. Milligan project. While this is good in that it secures financial backing for the near $1 billion project, we're naming it 'the bad' only because of a tainted history of Mt Milligan flipping shares and selling from one company to the other over the last 20 years and never actually producing!
---this from PG Citizen

The Ugly: and this one has the potential to become REALLY UGLY! Russia seems to have come to it's senses and will be imposing a significant increase in taxes on raw log exports. This is going to drive the importing countries like China, Finland, etc to seek supply elsewhere and BC companies are already trying to make exporting logs look like a good thing.
The reasoning is going to be the "at least" pitch, at least the loggers can keep working. You know the pitch that's been used over and over to make the people of the 2nd largest resource country on the planet who should be among the world's best off, accept as little as possible.
We'll also get the pitch that only the evil commie-fascist Russians control raw log exports therefore we as good free enterprisers have no right at all to tell companies they can't tear down the forest and ship it out without creating a single job for Canadians. (Gee the same pitch the Yanks have fed us for two decades!)
--read all about it in the Vancouver Sun, with the spin how it could "Boost BC Forestry"

FINALLY !!!!

Emerging forestry firm Conifex Inc. won court approval Monday to buy and operate the Fort St. James sawmill.
Conifex, a new firm being set up by three former forestry and investment banking executives, said it will pay $12.8 million for the Fort St. James mill in northern British Columbia. The deal also include $3 million in liabilities, including reforestation and environmental expenses.
Conifex - which is being run by former Slocan CEO Ken Shields, Former Primex Forest Products CEO George Malpass and former Raymond James executive Dave Roberts - said it plans to have the mill fully operating by next month.
--- 680 news

Finally some great news to report. A Canadian company, and the Court even gave a big 'f.o,a.d.' to Indonesia's PT Pinto Deli.
WOOT!

Beetles take Bite of Alberta, Ont Mill wants Smarter Workers

Climate change deniers, who seem to abound in Alberta, get to feel the bite of the Northern Pine Beetle as yet another mild winter is causing an explosion there of infestation.

Spring survey results released this week are showing that high numbers of the beetles survived the winter across much of southwest Alberta and in several pockets in west-central Alberta.
Two years ago, beetles had attacked 19,000 trees in Alberta. A year ago, the figure was three million. Besides threatening an estimated $23 billion worth of timber in Alberta forests, officials worry about potential changes to the watershed, leading to more run-off and flooding.

Ontario Mill now sets Grade 12 standard:

When Red Rock Mill Inc. reopens the mill in Red Rock, Ontario in 2009 (to manufacture the Multiply line), all employees will need to have their grade 12 for safety reasons.

According to Red Rock's labour adjustment centre, roughly 40% of workers who were laid off from mill closures in Nipigon and Red Rock over the last few years didn't finish high school.

Mill manager Mike Shusterman said Thursday that some workers who would normally be hired in a flash because of their solid work history, won't qualify if they don‘t have Grade 12.

It ain't that hard!
Mills here should strictly enforce GR 12 or better on all new hires, there's no way some kid who won't finish school should be taking a job away from one who will. No way a Supervisor should consider hiring someone without the ambition to even graduate!

--both stories in foresttalk.com

Booked your Moving Van yet? More wait and see...

The courst have granted P&T another extension on the sale of their 3 BC mills. They now have until July 7th to gather offers.
Hurry up and wait some more, which should be adopted as a motto for our town where absolutely nothing, ever, comes to a speedy conclusion.
The delays have been so numerous the P&T sale has become un-newsworthy in the major papers, like "Dog Bites Man".
Read about it here in the PG Citizen, or here on opinion250, or here on foresttalk.com financial news if you really want to get further depressed.
Worker options have been reduced to move or hope that this area of BC will be granted the status of some isolated Newfoundland outport and grant EI extensions. The second option carries with it the warning that even with an EI extension, that too will be run out by the time the mill becomes operational again.

Milligan Files Enviro Assessment

Terrane Metals has filed their project assessment, the next step is to file to initiate the statuatory review period.
Read the article, they even mention some workers will be living in the Fort.
----opinion250.com

P&T's Halsey Oregon mill was flogged for $24 million yesterday to Ableco Finance LLC.
---Portland Journal

Mackenzie takes another kick in the 'nads as CANFOR announces an indefenite shutdown of it's mill there, throwing another 200 people out of work
---opinion250.com