Tolko Industries Ltd. will break ground on its new $200 million Slave Lake oriented strandboard mill this fall. Construction, according to a company news release, will commence in the spring of 2006.
Tolko also indicated in its June 23 release that it hopes to keep its present mill in the Mitsue Industrial Park running.
Tolko isn’t saying yet where the new mill will be. But Dave Knight, Tolko’s regional woodlands manager, says the prime consideration for mill location is to keep hauling costs as low as possible.
“The mill has to be sited in the right spot,” he says. “If it’s in the wrong place, then you pay with every load of logs.”
The construction announcement wasn’t a surprise, although it is good news for all those who consider economic development a good thing. What is more surprising is the news about keeping the old mill in business.
“Development plans are also underway to ensure that the long-term viability of our existing Slave Lake plant as an OSB and value-added specialty products facility,” said Tolko President Al Thorlakson said in the news release.
Tolko expects its new mill to employ 125 people, with 125 seasonal contract jobs in the woodlands on top of that.
The new mill will produce 800 million square feet of product annually, from over a million cubic metres of timber.

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