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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Paper mill purchased, will reopen

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 09/29/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

HALIFAX -- The company buying the NewPage Port Hawkesbury paper mill says a sale has been finalized almost a year after southern Cape Breton was stunned by news its largest employer was closing.

The $33-million sale of the mill to Pacific West Commercial Corp. officially closed Friday after document-signing sessions in Halifax and Toronto.

The Vancouver company is now the new owner of the mill, which will be renamed Port Hawkesbury Paper.

The facility was shut down last September, throwing 600 people out of work and affecting another 400 forestry workers in a region of the province that already had some of the country's highest unemployment rates.

The restructured firm says it will produce paper early next week, with one machine operating and 250 workers returning initially.

Under a deal struck last Saturday, the Nova Scotia government is providing a $124.5-million aid package over 10 years on top of the $36.8 million it has spent keeping the mill in a so-called hot-idle state.

The figure includes $20 million spent by the province to purchase about 20,840 hectares of land from NewPage Port Hawkesbury. The deal also includes an amended discount power rate agreement with Nova Scotia Power Inc. The mill is the utility's largest customer.

Ron Stern, owner of Vancouver-based Pacific West Commercial, said in a news release that Friday marks, "a major milestone for the mill."

"In the past three days, more than 150 trucks have arrived to supply the mill," he said. "We plan to have paper on the reel early next week."

Under the deal, Pacific West Commercial will also be able to incorporate other mills and related assets into the mill, saving taxes in other provinces.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 29, 2012 B6

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