The proponents behind a wood fibre mill for Lake Huron’s North Shore communities are talking with two major North American forestry players in an attempt to strike a partnership deal and secure a lead equity investor to move the $105-million birch plywood project forward.
“We have some interest and that’s all I can say at the moment,” says Graeme Lowry, president of Algoma Mill Works, who, together with partner Phil Stanghetta, has spent the last 12 years working to secure the wood allocation from the Ministry of Natural Resources and find lead investors.
“We don’t have a deal, but I have some strong interest. Two players are in the forefront at the moment. Both certainly have the resources to do this and it’s working its way up the ladder with both companies.”
Lowry mentions one is a “dominant player in the forest resources sector,” while the other is an “emerging player, but is extremely well financed.”
He could make no guarantees nor place any timetable as to when a deal might be secured.
“I’d be crystal balling if I did, (but) I’ll do everything I can to bring it together.
“We’re ready to go to the financial communities,” Lowry says. “We have some very positive discussions going with the major players and I remain optimistic we can put this thing together and we’re getting there every week.”
Some of the North Shore communities who themselves as the North Channel Community Development Corp. have tapped into a special development Patten Post fund and further allied with the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund to provide $1.58 million to hire consultants and complete some pre-engineering, marketing and nearby woodlands analysis for the project.
The consultants’ confidential report, which was recently released into the hands of the community partners, serves to prepare the mill project for investment and satisfy the province’s conditional commitment for the Crown land wood allocation.
“We’ve completed the pre-engineering, forestry work and all the marketing and it’s all quite positive,” says Lowry, who is targeting the furniture and cabinetry market in the Great Lakes area, and wants highway, rail and water connections for the mill.
No site has been chosen, but the mill will be located somewhere along the North Shore.
If built, the project would employ 200 in mill operations, plus a further 100 in harvesting and trucking, and utilize some high-tech equipment imported from Finland.
To showcase samples of this milling technology to potential partners and the financial community, Algoma Mill works cut logs from Crown-managed land and shipped about 1,000 pieces to Finland, paying two separate companies to turn them into four-by-eight plywood sheets.
“Even when we get a deal with a partner we’re still going to need to bank a lot of the construction costs.
“Finding a partner doesn’t mean we’re done with the financial community it means we have our equity investor (in place).”
Lowry, who works at heavy truck accessories in Norwich, Ont., says he is prepared to step aside and “pass the torch” to an incoming company to take over the project, if necessary..
