Coated papermaker ready to roll: local ownership group heads up former Cascades mill.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: SPECIAL REPORT: THUNDER BAY

For Andre Nicol, the months of organizing the finances to reopen the former Cascades paper mill is over.

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The heavy lifting of restarting plant machinery now begins.

In April, the first few employees at the fledgling Thunder Bay Fine Paper were putting into motion their plans to activate three paper machines that had been lying dormant for two winters, since Cascades closed the mill in February 2006.

The first shipment of coated paper was due out by the first week in May

"Some mills have to die before they come back," says Nicol, the company president in reflecting on the plant's revival and the overall state of the forestry industry in northwestern Ontario.

In 2004, the Cascades mill had 640 employees. Now with a 10-year labour agreement in place with four unions, the new lean and mean Thunder Bay Fine Paper will have 320 by September when the third and final No. 6 paper machine comes on stream. Former unionized employees will be called back as needed.

It was two years from the conception of an idea to re-open the mill through a rocky financing process to raise $42.7 million. The deal almost fell apart before Christmas.

Some local investors had backed out and there was little interest in the private equity markets to revive a paper mill that was declared a money-loser.

But a group of knowledgeable and experienced local paper mill men knew the operation could be a winner, with the right paper mix and select niche markets.

Also, coming to their aid was the Ontario government, boosting the amount of a provincial loan guarantee.

Nicol credits Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Michael Gravelle, the new Northern Development and Mines Minister, for coming through with some nick-of-time funding in January with an additional $1.5 million loan from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund on top of more than $10 million in loan guarantees.

Local investors invested $3 million with former mill owners. Cascades contributed $4 million.

"We needed it quickly or it was going to die," says Nicol. "At the same time, I was having a hard time keeping the team together. The frustration and stress of the whole thing was starting to show."

Nicol spent 30 years in sales and marketing at Lakehead Newsprint, a paper rewinding company

He was part of a group formed in...