CP Forest Products celebrates completion of major expansion.

• Position: Canadian Pacific Forest Products Ltd.'s modernization of its newsprint mill - Focus on Thunder Bay - Company Profile

Canadian Pacific Forest Products Ltd. completed a $500-million expansion and modernization of its Thunder Bay newsprint mill on Oct. 18.

The modernization program included such new facilities as a thermomechanical pulp mill, a newsprint machine, a newsprint recycling plant and a secondary effluent treatment system. It represented the single largest investment made to date by Canadian Pacific Forest Products.

"The Thunder Bay modernization program was undertaken to increase productivity, improve product quality and enhance our environmental performance," commented Paul E. Gagne, the company's president and chief executive officer.

The four main elements of the program are:

a $105-million, 245,000-metric-ton thermomechanical pulp mill which started operating in February, replacing a groundwood mill and a sulphite pulp mill

a $245-million, 240,000-metric-ton, twin-wire Valmet newsprint machine which started operating in April, replacing two 60-year-old machines at the mill

a $36-million secondary effluent treatment system which treats effluents from the kraft and thermomechanical pulp pump mills, reducing biological oxygen demand, chlorinated organics and toxicity in the Kaministiquia River

a $75-million newsprint recycling plant which consumes up to 350 tons per day of old newspapers and magazines

The newsprint recycling facility started operating last month and makes CP Forest the first...