Canadian sawmill to be rebuilt

19/09/2012

A Canadian sawmill is due to be rebuilt following an explosion that destroyed the site back in January.

The owners of the Burns Lake sawmill pledged that so long as the province can commit to ensuring that there is a timber supply available to feed the mill, they will put the final investment into rebuilding it.

Steve Zika, chief executive of Hampton Affiliates, stated at a news conference: “The decision taken by the Hampton family was not an easy one due to the precarious timber supply situation brought about by the pine beetle that has ravaged forests throughout British Columbia.”

To ensure the timber supply in the region, the government is looking at a number of steps. Firstly, it is considering legislating to create new timber tenures based on area, rather than volume. It is also looking at harvesting timber that has until now been considered uneconomic, as well as attempting to build agreements with the area's First Nationals to supply their timber allocations to the mill and requiring timber harvested within some of the new tenures to be tied to the proposed mill.

Mr Zika confirmed that his company feels “comfortable” progressing with the investment in the sawmill based on these preliminary negotiations and the agreements for timber supply.