Norwegian solar company confirms purchase of UPM's N.B. mills
A Norwegian company has confirmed it is buying all of UPM's assets in New Brunswick, including its shuttered paper mill in Miramichi and a sawmill near Bathurst.
Umoe Solar Inc. has interests in bioethanol and solar energy.
Oystein Oyehaug, the company's president and chief executive officer, said more details about the company's plans will be released once the deal is closed.
But he said the Miramichi site will not operate as a paper mill.
"We are looking into the renewable energy space as the new focus area," Oyehaug said.
"We have built up activities in Brazil. And it will hopefully be within that range of activities that we will do something here."
Oyehaug said new jobs will be created eventually, but that will take some time.
The company will continue to operate the sawmill near Bathurst for now. The deal is expected to close at the end of the month.
UPM-Kymmene confirmed on Wednesday that it was a step closer to selling its paper mill in Miramichi.
Until that sale is finalized the Finnish forestry giant is releasing few details. In the meantime the company's signs at the former paper mill in Miramichi have been taken down.
The mill, which was the northern city's largest employer, closed just over a year ago, leaving more than 500 people out of work in a community that has been dealt several economic blows in recent years.
'Hopefully that'll mean that the workers will get their jobs back.' — Garnet Chavarie, union vice-president
Sharon Pond, UPM's communications manager, would not confirm who the buyer is or whether the sale includes the sawmill that UPM still operates near Bathurst.
"UPM can confirm that a definitive agreement for the sale for the former UPM assets in New Brunswick was signed. The final agreement concluding the sale is expected to be signed later this month," Pond said.
Garnet Chavarie, the vice-president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Local 689, said this is news that workers have been waiting for since the mill closed down. He said many of the people who lost their jobs when the mill shut its doors have been working out west, so this gives them a chance to return home and earn a living.
"It's a good thing that there is a company coming in here and they're actually going to do something with the mill, but hopefully that'll mean that the workers will get their jobs back," Chavarie said.
The union vice-president said he's relieved that it appears the Norwegian company may be manufacturing a new product and not gutting the facility.
"That is one of the things we were worried about: that they were going to sell it to a scrap dealer that was going to go in there and demolish everything and just use the scrap metal and just leave it barren," he said.
Restarting mill had been government priority: Byrne
Business New Brunswick Minister Greg Byrne said restarting the Miramichi mill has been a top objective for the Liberal government since it closed.
"It has been a priority for the premier and for our government to look at diversification of the economy on the Miramichi and to bring new opportunities, new economic opportunities," Byrne said.
"We have indicated it is certainly our desire to have people working on the former UPM site."