
The Canada-based paper company Catalyst Paper has announced that it is permanently closing its Elk Falls, B.C., paper mill. The mill, which had been indefinitely idled since February 2009, will be permanently shuttered by this coming September. The company attributed a sharp drop in commodity paper markets, along with a difficult labor and tax situation, as key reasons for the permanent closure.
In announcing the decision, Kevin Clarke, Catalyst’s president and CEO, noted that the closure should hopefully benefit the rest of the company’s paper mills. “With this difficult decision behind us, we can now focus our sales and marketing strategies and production planning around mills that still have the potential to operate competitively which is a better basis to future-focus our business overall,” Clarke said.
Along with the mill’s closure, Catalyst will be permanently closing its paper recycling operation in Coquitlam, B.C. The facility, which supplied the company’s Crofton, B.C., mill, was indefinitely idled in February due to reduced recycled pulp requirements, combined with higher cost and constrained availability of quality recovered paper.
The Elk Falls mill began operation in 1952, and at its peak, produced 784,000 metric tons of pulp, paper and kraft paper per year.
The decision to permanently shutter the mill comes after the company had earlier this year resubmitted a propsal to restart the facility. Under the proposal, Catalysts' management had sought significant labor concessions.
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