BC forestry companies have invested roughly $100 million to rebuild and upgrade sawmills in the province since 2012. But they have been relatively low-key about it. The rebuilding of sawmills in Burns Lake and Prince George has been muted by the fatal explosions that prompted the investment, as well as an ongoing coroner’s inquest and a legal challenge from at least one of the companies fined by WorkSafeBC. “They’re pretty sensitive,” said Bob Matters, Wood Council chairman for the United Steelworkers, which represents many B.C. sawmill workers. “There are community issues still around the fire and explosions, so they are, I know, trying to keep low-key.” On January 20, 2012, two workers were killed and 20 injured when the Babine Forest Products sawmill in Burns Lake exploded. On April 23, 2012, a sawmill explosion at Lakeland Mills Ltd. in Prince George killed two and injured nearly two dozen. Wood dust was blamed for the fires, and much of the forestry companies’ investment since 2012 has been related to dust management and improving safety, according to James Gorman, CEO of the Council of Forest Industries. “Our companies,” he said, “are investing nearly $100 million in upgrades related to being able to manage combustible wood dust.” This spring, Oregon-based Hampton Affiliates quietly reopened its Babine Forest Products in Burns Lake. The mill is smaller than the one that burned down. Matters said it employs about 100 workers compared with approximately 170 in the old mill. Meanwhile, in Prince George, Sinclair Group Forest Products Ltd. is completing the reconstruction of its Lakeland Mills. According to public documents, the project’s construction cost is $13.8 million. Neither Hampton Affiliates nor Sinclair Group would speak to Business in Vancouver about the rebuilding projects. “We are not speaking about Babine at all,” Hampton Affiliates corporate secretary Vicki Shaylor told BIV. “The purchase price isn’t something that our CEO would share, nor would he make any remarks to the media while we’re in an ongoing process with the government and WorkSafe.” She referred to a $1 million fine WorkSafeBC levied against the company in April, which Hampton Affiliates announced it would challenge. WorkSafeBC also fined Lakeland Mills $724,163. Even companies that did not have mill fires have been investing in new equipment to control dust. Last month, Conifex Timber Inc. (TSX:CFF) announced a $12 million investment in new dust-management technology at its mills in Fort St. James and Mackenzie. Conifex is also the latest B.C. forestry company to make a major investment in bioenergy. The company is commissioning a new $100 million bioenergy plant that will burn wood waste from its sawmill operations to generate power, which will be sold to BC Hydro over a 20-year period. Meanwhile, last month, Canfor Corp. (TSX:CFP) announced it will invest $58 million in new wood pellet plants at sawmills in Chetwynd and Fort St. John. Apart from those kinds of investments, it’s unlikely any new sawmills will be built in B.C. for decades, at least not in the Interior. If anything, more sawmills are expected to close, as B.C.’s fibre basket shrinks. (One exception is a small mill built recently by Duz Cho Logging for the McLeod Lake Indian Band.) The annual allowable cut (AAC) spiked at about 77 million cubic metres in response to a massive die-off of pine from the mountain pine beetle infestation. But that windfall of wood has been pretty much used up, and the AAC is expected to drop to 42 million cubic metres by 2020 and stay there for a couple of decades. “That means you’ve got a lot of mills chasing those trees,” Gorman said. “So you’re going to see further consolidation. You’re not going to see new sawmills being constructed in British Columbia. We have a supply constraint problem here.” If any new mills are built in B.C., it is likely to be on the West Coast, which escaped the pine beetle infestation, said Pat Bell, the former B.C. forests minister who is now Conifex’s executive vice-president. |
