A new lumber mill under development in northern Saskatchewan has received a timber allocation from the province.
The One Sky Forest Products mill in Prince Albert will have the capacity to produce 600 million square feet of oriented strand board (OSB) annually when production starts in the first quarter of 2022.
The company will require approximately 845,000 square metres of timber to meet its annual production goal.
On Wednesday, the Saskatchewan government said it is allocating the majority of the lumber required for the project, but did not say how much. The remaining lumber will come through agreements with other mills, Indigenous timber allocation holders and private landowners.
One Sky founder Brian Fehr said the announcement by the province allows the project to move forward.
“We have been working with our Saskatchewan investors and First Nations partners for over a year to get to this point and are eager to move to the next phase of project development,” Fehr said in a statement.
“We thank the government of Saskatchewan and look forward to developing this important project for Prince Albert, our First Nations partners and the people of Saskatchewan.”
The company said it will enter the market producing performance-rated OSB sheathing, which is the preferred wall, roof and sub-floor sheathing material in home construction.
One Sky said it plans to expand into value-added and complimentary OSB products in the future.
Energy and Resources Minister Bronwyn Eyre said supporting the forestry industry is important for the province’s economic success.
“Forestry is northern Saskatchewan’s largest sector and supports nearly 8,000 jobs and hundreds of businesses,” Eyre said.
“The One Sky project will help achieve the ambitious goal in our Growth Plan to double the province’s forestry sector by 2030 and further strengthen Saskatchewan’s economy.”
The new $250-million mill is expected to create more than 700 jobs in northern Saskatchewan, the company said.