HALIFAX -- The Nova Scotia government is providing more than $20 million in loans and refinancing to help upgrade a pulp mill in Pictou County.
Economic Development Minister Percy Paris said Friday the Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corp. in Abercrombie will use the money to improve the 40-year-old mill and buy equipment to reduce air pollution.
The company, a division of Paper Excellence Canada Holdings of British Columbia, is getting a $14.7-million repayable loan, a $2.5-million forgivable loan and refinancing for $5.4-million loan from 2009.
The company is spending $5 million of its own money on the upgrades.
It will also spend $10.2 million to build a wood-chip plant, creating 20 new jobs.
The mill, which employs about 250 people, makes bleached kraft, an ingredient in toilet paper, napkins, paper towels, diapers and newsprint.
"The province has several hundred reasons to help the company respond to the community's concerns about air quality while protecting and increasing jobs," Paris said in a statement.
The mill's B.C. parent is part of Paper Excellence BV, based in the Netherlands and controlled by Asia Pulp and Paper of Singapore, which is controlled by Sinar Mas, one of the largest conglomerates in Indonesia.
Paper Excellence bought the Pictou County mill in May 2011.
"Today's announcement helps Northern Pulp deliver on our goal to build a clean, modern and competitive forest company," said Don Breen, Northern Pulps's acting general manager.
