Fortress Paper Ltd.

Founded in 1966, the pulp mill in Lebel-sur-Quévillon was constructed by Domtar for the production of northern bleached softwood kraft pulp. The northern Québec mill operated for nearly 40 years until it was shut down in 2005 by Domtar, leading to the loss of 700 jobs in the small region that was home to only 3000. The mill sat idle until earlier this year when Vancouver-based Fortress Paper Ltd. purchased the facility with the intent...

With the recent acquisition of a pulp mill in Lebel-sur-Quévillon, Fortress Paper will add a second dissolving pulp facility to its production line. The mill was previously owned by Domtar but had been closed since 2005. The Northern Québec town has a long history of pulp and paper manufacturing. In fact, it was founded in the mid 1940s by loggers who arrived in the remote area to send logs down the Bell River. The industry really began to...

The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) says the federal government should continue to fortify forestry trade and investment ties with China. The recommendation follows a study released earlier this month by Ed Fast, Canada’s Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, and China’s Minister of Commerce Chen Deming. The conclusion of the study, titled the Canada-China Economic Complementarities Study, ...

A soon-to-be re-opened pulp mill in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan has begun generating power through its on-site cogeneration facility. The power will be used to run the mill once it’s up and running, and is already contributing to the SaskPower provincial grid. “According to Prince Albert mayor Jim Scarrow, the plant is producing power from the mill's bio-mass boiler and power turbine and the company is now selling back that power,” CT...

Nova Scotia’s provincial government announced yesterday it would contribute $124.5 million to re-open an idle paper mill in Port Hawkebury. The NewPage mill closed nearly a year ago in September 2011. The multi-million dollar deal they have offered would help Pacific West Commercial Corp. – the owners of the mill – re-start and reinvigorate the facility and the workforce in the region. “We have indeed done everything we can to keep ...

A power plant in Aitkokan, Ontario will undergo a conversion over the next two years that will change the facility’s focus from coal to biomass. The conversion project for the Atikokan Generating Station, located about 200km northwest of Thunder Bay, will begin later this year and is scheduled to be fully operational by 2014. Upon completion, it will provide more than 200 megawatts of energy to the provincial power grid. The plant will us...

To read the Fortress Paper press release, please click here....