Around the North

Fort Frances is taking steps to attract commercial investors by prioritizing economic development initiatives and expanding on ideas to entice industry to locate in the area. One of the ideas proposed is the development of an industrial park.

The acquisition of sawmill operator Davidson Industries will place Tembec Inc. into lead position as a top Canadian producer of specialty wood products, a company official says.

Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. is contributing $50,000 for research of environmental monitoring techniques to aid the expansion of cage-based aquaculture in the Great Lakes.

Tourist operators and forest companies in the Dryden area are joining together to create a resource stewardship agreement to avoid any friction in the future in the use of the forest.

Bearskin Airlines has reopened a route west for travellers flying to Winnipeg. Beginning Oct. 15, daily flights resumed from Dryden Regional Airport to Winnipeg International Airport.

Foxpoint Resources, a Vancouver-based company, announced this fall it had reached an agreement with Kinross Gold Corp.

Workers at Tembec Inc.'s Kirkland Lake sawmill are bracing for layoffs mid-November as the company suspends operations in the wake of an unstable softwood lumber market.

Abitibi-Consolidated Ltd.'s Kenora mill is preparing a temporary shutdown in December. The company has decided to shutdown the mill for a period of two to four weeks as part of an inventory control program, company officials say.

Grand Council Treaty 3 leaders have given their approval to the construction of Weyerhaeuser's $250-million Trus-Joist timber strand mill for Kenora, contingent on some conditions being met.

A burgeoning debt load faced by the Northwestern Ontario Recycling Association (NORA) means the agency will hand over their largely inefficient collection system to a private contractor.