Fortress Paper Ltd.

Early last week, in a significant step to eliminate coal-fired power generation, the government announced the burning of the Atikokan plant’s last piece of coal- making it the end of an era. The conversion of the Atikokan plant from coal to biomass is now underway. This project, the first of its kind in the province of Ontario. The project creates new economic opportunities for Ontario’s forestry sector, which will provide the biomass fuel...

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 new multi-year contract signed this month solidified a continuing relationship between Lenzing AG and Sappi Ltd. in the dissolving pulp sector. The deal outlines a plan whereby Lenzing – a company that specializes in manufacturing man-made cellulose fibres – will procure dissolving pulp from Sappi in order to manufacture its products. According to a press release issued by Lenzing, the deal “intensifies a long-time cooperation between ...

Domtar Corp. continued its plan to diversify its product line this week by acquiring US-based EAM Corp., a company that mainly produces high quality absorbent composite materials. The US$61 million acquisition will allow Domtar to have easy access to the core materials used in feminine hygiene, adult incontinence, baby diapers and other medical, health-care and performance packaging products. The deal will not only provide Domtar with long-...

A soon-to-be re-opened pulp mill in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan is on track to start generating power from their cogeneration facility by the end of May. “May 15 we’ll fire up and do a lot of check outs and by May 27th we’ll synchronize with the Saskatchewan power grid,” said Dave Patterson, the mill’s general manager. The plant is expected to be producing and selling 10 megawatts of power to the province’s grid once everything ...

As more and more traditional pulp production facilities shut their doors across Canada, one industry insider says the keys to the sector’s survival are “innovation and investment.” In an interview with The Sault Star, Glenn Clifford, who was worked in the Canadian pulp and paper industry for nearly thirty years, cited competitive labour rates on the global stage, concessions, a stronger Canadian dollar, rising hydro rates, shrinking prof...

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver told reporters this week that the federal government may extend innovation programs designed to help the forest industry adjust to the challenges of a changing sector. “There may be a continuation of some programs that currently exist,” he said during a lunchtime speech at Paper Week in Montreal on Wednesday. "We should not underestimate the sector's resilience, the excellence of our forest products an...

A new government program introduced last week will inject money into Atlantic Canada’s forestry sector in an attempt to diversify the region’s struggling industry. The initiative sees the Maritime Lumber Bureau partnering with the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador to invest in a program called Atlantic WoodWorks. According to an article published in the Am...

The forestry sector has traditionally been known for it’s lumber, pulp, and paper opportunities but forestry experts say that Canadian forests could be key to developing a strong renewable energy sector.   Earlier this month, Avrim Lazar, president and CEO appeared before the Senate Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources and said that with the right government support the Canadian forest industry could produce a ...