Worthington Industries accomplishes its original goal of saving the Mackenzie
Pulp Mill
EDMONTON, April 16 /CNW/ - Worthington Industries Inc. has successfully completed the sale of its Mackenzie Pulp Mill through the efforts of The Mackenzie Pulp Mill Development Corporation.
Worthington Industries Inc. acquired the Mackenzie Pulp Mill located in Mackenzie, British Columbia from PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. through a court sale in September 2008. This mills production capacity was approximately 235,000 tons per year of Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft (NBSK) Pulp, used primarily for production of lightweight and ultra lightweight coated paper grades and high quality tissue.
Worthington's original plan for the mill was to restart it for operations immediately and rejuvenate the local economy in the Mackenzie region of British Columbia, however, due to factors beyond its control namely the Global credit crunch and drastic drop in pulp prices it was unable to do so.
Worthington Industries Inc. was sensitive to the social and economic impact of lost jobs and as a consequence rather than scraping the mill and pulling out its investment it employed every option available to save the mill for a future buyer. Through cooperation with the provincial governmental authorities and key individuals and consultants it has been successful in achieving the original goal of saving the mill and in turn the local economy, albeit with more bumps in the road that anyone would have wanted.
Worthington Industries Inc. would like to thank each and every individual who has been a part of the preservation and sale of the Mackenzie Pulp Mill, including the Honourable Minister Pat Bell of BC MOFR, the BC MOE, the Town of Mackenzie and Mayor Stephanie Killam, the Local Union and Management at the Mill.
Worthington stresses the need for continued cooperation and assistance from all parties to make the reopening of the Mill a success, and wishes the new owner and community the best of luck with future operations.
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