The Point Tupper paper mill has been running smoothly since its restart, according a delegation from the plant.

During the regular monthly meeting of Port Hawkesbury town council on Tuesday, three employees of the plant’s new owner, Port Hawkesbury Paper, painted a rosy picture of the mill’s operations.

Foncie Farrell, mill operations superintendent for Cape Breton, said production at the plant has exceeded expectations.

“The restart went very well considering the mill was down for over a year,” said Farrell. “It was kept in a state of hot idle, and that means the machines were turned regularly.”
In addition to having the mill produce excellent product, Farrell said he was surprised to have such a positive response from wood contractors who in many cases had started selling their materials to other mills.

As part of a new agreement, the mill has entered into a partnership with smaller mills to help it produce its raw product.

“It’s our intention, if a landowner or contractor wants to sell us everything that he harvests off his woodlot, we want to be able to buy that,” said Farrell. “We can market that to other markets.”

The mill, formerly operated by NewPage Port Hawkesbury, shut down in September 2011.

In October, the first roll of glossy magazine-style paper rolled off the production line.

Since that time, 304 people, including 267 full-time employees, have started work at the mill in various departments, including operations, maintenance, administration, forestry and salary.

While the mill remains a significant employer in the Strait region, there has been a net loss of about 250 jobs as the new owner has chosen to forgo producing a newsprint line.
Comments made around the table at council were positive toward the company’s purchase of the mill.

“You can just (be) happy that Mayor MacLean’s not here because he’d be hugging and kissing you,” said Coun. Bert Lewis. “Everybody in the region is very, very happy that the mill is up and running again.”

Deputy mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton echoed the sentiment of gratitude toward the mill’s operator.

“It’s such a wonderful thing to have you here and for you to express such great news,” she said.

Andrea Coombs, an outreach worker at the plant, said Port Hawkesbury Paper is currently the only large forestry operation that is certified to the Maritime standard in Atlantic Canada.
The mill is certified under the Forestry Stewardship Council, which includes certification from the process of moving wood out of the forest, down to selling the product to a paper customer.

“It really helps us when we get to those higher levels to compete with other companies, when we have that certification,” Coombs said.