C&C Wood Products division Edgewood Forest Products trials metric products for shipment to Middle East, China after restarting former Weyerhaeuser Carrot River, Saskatchewan, sawmill

Wendy Lisney

LOS ANGELES , March 7, 2012 (Industry Intelligence) – Production at Edgewood Forest Products' sawmill in Carrot River, Saskatchewan, is entering its second month after a start-up that was quicker than expected, the Nipawin Journal reported.

Edgewood, a division of C&C Wood Products, bought the sawmill from Weyerhaeuser in 2009, but market conditions prevented a restart until the company announced in November last year that it had identified a niche market. In total, the mill had been closed for five years.

Plant Manager Andy Borsa said that, because the mill was closed for so long, the company did not know what to expect when it began preparing the mill to restart production. All the equipment dates back to Weyerhaeuser's ownership.

The first shift started on Jan. 2, and Borsa credited the maintenance team with getting the equipment operational so quickly. Currently, the mill is running at 50% of full capacity with one half-hour shift. Production is focused on trialing metric products for shipment to the Middle East and China.

The sawmill employs 35 and produces 180 thousand board ft. per shift of construction-grade stud lumber.

Borsa said the mill had received tremendous support from the community and re-employed many former workers. He also welcomed the proposed reopening of the Prince Albert Pulp Mill in the second quarter of 2012, and said Edgewood had been in talks with that mill's management on sales of woodchips.

The primary source of this article is The Nipawin Journal, Nipawin, Saskatchewan, on March 6, 2012.

* 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.