Plans to close mill may be averted.

• Author: Louiseize, Kelly
• Position: NEWS - Kruger Inc.

Kruger Inc., a parent company of Longlac Wood Industries (LWI), is currently evaluating the feasibility of a new softwood facility to manufacture oriented strand board (OSB) in Greenstone's new industrial park.

Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Michael Gravelle is supporting the proposed $235-million facility.

"What is exciting about this project is that it will bring stability (to the economy)," Gravelle says.

It will replace antiquated plywood and wafer plants located in Longlac and Geraldton. The current plywood mill is not sustainable and the wafer board plant is perhaps the smallest in the world, says Eric Bisson, vice-president at Kruger's wood products division.

Introducing an OSB plant just south of the 50-degree parallel may be a solution.

"We have no plans to do any harvesting north of the undertaking (North of 50 degrees latitude)," Bisson says.

Almost 50 communities in the North are dependent on the forestry sector to sustain their economies. The industry is under tremendous challenges to compete internationally, Minister of Natural Resources David Ramsay states. The rising Canadian dollar, high-energy costs and softwood tariffs from the United States are forcing companies to look at other viable options.

LWI has submitted a proposal to the MNR for the expansion of a forest resource-processing licence. If approved, the facility will require up to 940,000 cubic metres of wood fibre from current licence holders, nearly double the amount the combined plants currently use.

Some unions are concerned about the extra wood fibre that is required to feed the plant of this size, Gravelle says. However, no new licences will be issued for this project...