Minas Basin Pulp and Power mill in Hantsport closing
Posted Nov 1, 2012 02:24:33 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Another Nova Scotia paper mill is shutting down. This time it’s the Minas Basin Pulp and Paper Company boxboard plant in Hantsport.
Parent company Scotia Investments Limited said it had hoped changes to pricing and restructuring last yer would make the Hantsport plant sustainable, but marketplace challenges, rising costs and competition from newer plants spelled the end for the facility that was founded in 1927.
Premier Darrell Dexter says the company’s doing what it can for its 135 employees.
“They’re going to take 30% of those and redistribute them over to other associated companies,” said Dexter. “There’s a shortfall in the pension plan; they’re going to make it up.”
Unlike some other paper plants that have had problems recently, this one doesn’t use trees for pulp. It processed recycled paper.
“I understand there’s still a strong demand for recycled cardboard, so there shouldn’t be any difficulty in selling that,” said Natural Resources Minister Charlie Parker. “I understand they’re going to be continuing with CKF, their recycling plant that makes Chinet and other products in that line.”
The company says it is not asking for a government bailout.
