Millar Western announces $8 million investment in Boyle lumber operation
Edmonton – H. MacKenzie Millar, President and Chief Executive Officer of Millar Western Forest Products Ltd., today announced that the company has begun work on two major capital projects at its lumber manufacturing facility in Boyle, Alberta. The projects, designed to enhance the facility’s lumber recovery, operating efficiency and wood waste management, will be completed in 2005 at a total cost of $8 million.
Financed internally through operating cash flow, the capital investment encompasses the installation of a new primary breakdown unit for small logs, as well as the addition of a new hog processing system for handling wood waste. The new small log sawing line will increase the recovery of lumber from the mill’s existing timber volume, meaning more pieces of lumber will be produced from every tree cut, for more efficient use of the forest resource. The new hog system will process mill by-products for use as a fuel source by the neighboring Alberta-Pacific pulp mill, allowing Millar Western to convert what was once waste material into a useful product.
The Millar Western sawmill plays a significant role in the Boyle area economy, employing 150 full-time workers on a two-shift basis to produce 100 million board feet per year of high-quality dimension lumber. In announcing the new capital projects, Millar emphasized the long-term benefits to the community. “We’re very pleased to have these projects underway,” said Millar. “They reflect our company’s commitment to ongoing reinvestment in our lumber and pulp facilities, to ensure we remain among the most efficient, responsible and progressive producers in the industry. By investing more than $30 million in the Boyle operation over the years, and securing a stable, sustainable timber supply for the mill, we’ve helped ensure the sawmill will contribute strongly to the economic wellbeing of this region far into the future.”
The new capital projects will employ up to 30 people at the peak of construction, and will not interrupt normal mill operations. Work on the new sawing line began October 5, and is scheduled for completion by March 2005 at a cost of $6.5 million. The new line is expected to increase overall mill lumber recovery by 10%. Work on the $1.4 million hog fuel processing system began September 1, and should be completed by the end of the year. Start-up of the new hog system in early 2005 will allow Millar Western to discontinue regular operation of its wood waste burner.
Millar Western Forest Products Ltd. is a family-owned business operating sawmills in Whitecourt and Boyle, Alberta, and high-yield pulp mills in Whitecourt and in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. With an annual capacity of 325 million board feet of lumber and 610,000 tonnes of pulp, Millar Western is one of Western Canada’s largest privately-held forest products companies.
For more information, please contact:
Janet Millar
Communications Manager
Ph: 780-486-8249
E-mail: jmillar@millarwestern.com