The world’s largest western red cedar producer Western Forest Products is investing C$16m in Saltair sawmill to boost productivity by 15%.
British Columbia (BC) minister of forests Steve Thomson visited the mill for the formal announcement of the investment.
The Saltair sawmill, built in 1972, converts coastal mid-size logs into high-value specialised lumber products in hemlock, Douglas fir and western red cedar.
The capital project will make Saltair the largest single-line sawmill on the coast of BC and will provide upgrades to the edgers, stacker and sorters. The upgrades will increase production by approximately 15%, lowering the per unit cost of production, and improving competitiveness with global producers.
“Upgraded edgers will facilitate onsite production of prime sizes for the ever-growing Asian market, a critical part of our customer profile which also includes Europe, Australia, and North America,” it said.
“Once the project is complete, a more competitive mill, that can absorb market fluctuations, will provide more stable and secure employment for the 140 existing mill jobs.”
Western is the largest coastal BC woodland operator and lumber producer with an annual available harvest of approximately 7.4 million m³ of timber and a production capacity of 1.5 billion board feet from eight sawmills and four remanufacturing plants.
