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Prince Albert pulp mill receives $600K injection from Paper Excellence

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Prince Albert, Sask. pulp mill receives $600K injection from Paper Excellence
WATCH: A recent investment into a long closed Prince Albert mill is an encouraging sign for the Saskatchewan community – Feb 6, 2021

After laying dormant for over a decade, Prince Albert’s pulp and paper mill could come roaring back to life following a $600,000 injection from parent company Paper Excellence.

The B.C. company purchased the mill back in 2011 from DOMTAR, and the non-compete agreement with the former owner runs out in March.

Recently, Paper Excellence has begun engineering and consulting work that could see the mill open in the summer of 2023.

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“The opportunity to restart and manufacture craft pulp there has always been something that we’ve wanted to do, and clearly we’re in a position now where we can almost do that,” Paper Excellence environmental health, safety and communications vice president Graham Kissack said via Zoom from Mill Bay, B.C.

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“The biggest barrier to operating it has been the non-compete which is now finally expiring.”

In 2006, when the mill closed its doors, upwards of 700 people were left without jobs.

Kissack said re-opening would be greatly beneficial to Prince Albert’s economy.

“This obviously represents 200 direct jobs, you know 300 million plus in annual economic lift, and a great deal more in economic spinoff,” he said.

Elise Hildrebrandt, CEO of the Prince Albert Chamber of Commerce, also sees positives of the mills return to production.

“It’ll mean a lot of our people can go back to the jobs that they had, it also brings a lot of people back home,” she said.  “There were a lot of people who were working in Alberta, so, they’ll be able to get jobs back in Saskatchewan.”

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