New hope for Hornepayne: Frank Dottori buys shuttered, bankrupt sawmill.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: NEWS

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Frank Dottori knows he's sticking his neck out a bit in picking up an idled and bankrupt Hornepayne lumber mill.

With so much uncertainty looming this fall over the outcome of the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber talks, it may be a head-scratcher as to why the semi-retired founder of Tembec went out and bought another lumber mill.

But the Canadian forest industry legend admits to taking a calculated risk on buying the former Haavaldsrud Timber Company in a deal he finalized on Aug. 30.

On one hand, Dottori is optimistic lumber markets will stay strong over the next five years, which should spell sunny days for the sawmilling sector, but on the other hand he had little confidence that the federal mediators will negotiate a fair deal for Canada leading up to the Oct. 15 deadline.

"If the agreement is very onerous then it may prevent the startup of the mill and I'm going to look very foolish. But I'm an optimist."

Dottori is also CEO of White River Forest Products, a sawmill located 100 kilometres south of Hornepayne on Highway 631, in an ownership arrangement he shares with the town of White River and the Pic Mobert First Nation.

The Hornepayne dimensional lumber mill is "100 per cent" his alone, although he's trolling for investment partners.

"We'd like the community and region to get involved. We're hoping the First Nations take an interest. We're believers that First Nations should invest in regional industry and manufacturing to develop long-term plans. Some of them have approached us indicating an interest and we're open to talking to them."

The Haavaldsrud mill had been in receivership since its Nov. 27, 2015 shutdown, putting 146 employees on the street. The previous owners cited financial difficulties.

The court-appointed monitor placed the mill on the block last April with Dottori's successful bid being picked out of 14 interested parties, purchase price undisclosed.

The lack of a long-term wood supply has been a chronic problem, he said, something he hopes is now rectified with an assurance that 460,000 cubic metres of Crown wood supply would be made available.

"It's a nice volume that, if we're smart and do the proper investments, we could make into a good competitive mill."

The White River and Hornepayne mills will operate as separate entities, but Dottori said there are some "synergies" to be had on better utilizing the wood supply to cut down on haulage costs.

"We have wood right next door to them up north and...