City officials in Miramichi, New Brunswick, introduce plans for C$190M sawmill and wood fiber processing complex; 100-acre site would house four businesses producing lumber, wood pellets, engineered beams and wood biomass energy

Wendy Lisney

LOS ANGELES , May 30, 2014 (Industry Intelligence Inc.) – Miramichi City Council in New Brunswick introduced plans for a sawmill and wood fiber processing company, Miramichi Fiber Processing, on May 22, according to a report by Farm Focus.

The president of Miramichi Lumber Products, Danny Anderson, and the company's CFO Hal Raper, said that the proposed company would include four businesses. In addition to the sawmill, the site would house a pellet plant; Miramichi Scrimtec, a manufacturer of engineered beams from low-grade pulp; and Miramichi Heat & Power that would create energy from wood biomass.

Citing an original report from the Miramichi Leader, Farm Focus reported that the company would operate on an 100-acre site on the outskirts of New Brunswick city. The site that formerly housed a UPM-Kymmene paper mill, is owned by the province and is close to the rail infrastructure and water.

Raper told the council that Miramichi Fiber Processing would require C$190 million in start-up costs, but that revenues were projected to reach $133 million. He said the operation would create around 400 direct jobs and 1,000 related jobs.

Raper said funding for the business would not be a problem, but securing a long-term wood supply would be the main challenge. He noted that the company would need 520,000 m3 of biomass and 690,000 m3 of sawlogs to be viable.

Forestry expert Fritz Weirathmueller has been hired to work on the project and negotiate wood allocations with the province. He said the DNR had made a verbal commitment to allocate 175,000 m3 of Crown pulpwood as well as 170,000 m3 of biomass. Weirathmueller added that Miramichi Fiber Processing would source some of its timber from private woodlot owners and First Nations.

The primary source of this article is Farm Focus, Halifax, Nova Scotia, on May 29, 2014. The original article can be viewed here.

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