Pacific BioEnergy restarts Kitwanga, British Columbia, sawmill after wet weather causes delay, hinders harvesting operations

Wendy Lisney

TERRACE, British Columbia , June 14, 2011 (Terrace Standard) – The old Kitwanga mill rumbled to life yesterday as logs rolled in to be cut.

Pacific BioEnergy Corporation started up mill operations June 13 after originally eyeing up a June 6 start date. That date was pushed back because of wet weather and difficulty in getting enough fibre supply in.

But with enough logs in the yard, the mill, which is running one shift a day, has started up again.

The company is anticipating to employ around 45 people in the mill, and will require 12,000 to 14,000 cubic metres of fibre per month. This supply will be from its forest licence, which was included in the purchase of the Kitwanga Lumber Company in 2009, and neighbouring licences.

Pacific BioEnergy operates a pellet plant in Prince George and wants to use the old Barrick Gold site next to the old West Star sawmill in Kitwanga as another white pellet plant location.

* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.