The sale of the former NewPage paper mill to a Vancouver company has been approved by Nova Scotia’s Supreme Court and area residents saw evidence today that the mill is almost back and up running.
Truck driver Claude Bourgeois unloaded a full bed of wood at the mill in Point Tupper Thursday – a delivery he says he hasn’t made in over a year.
“It was a weird feeling. I had goosebumps all the way here,” says Bourgeois. “From the end of Reeves Street to here, for sure.”
Several trucks plowed through the mill’s gates Thursday, amounting to more than 1,000 tonnes of wood to mill employees and local residents.
“We had eight trucks in before 8 a.m. this morning, just in that first hour,” says Bill Stewart, director of woodlands. “If we keep going at that rate we’ll probably get 1,500 to 2,000 tonnes today.”
Nova Scotia’s Utility and Review Board is expected to sign off on the deal to re-open the mill Friday.
The wood will then move inside the mill on a conveyor belt for processing and paper could be produced by late next week.
The mill’s nearly 300 employees are thrilled about the news, as are the scores of wood suppliers and truckers across eastern Nova Scotia.
“To put it in perspective, our association started from the truckers that were hauling here, guys who relied 100 per cent on this place,” says Bourgeois. “So for us, to have this re-opened, it’s a huge impact for sure.”
“It’s just great to see wood rolling into the mill finally, it’s been a long 13 months,” says Stewart.
Along with today’s court decision to approve the sale of the mill, the province has extended the deal’s Friday deadline to Oct. 5 to account for any last minute complications.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ryan MacDonald
