TIMMINS - Making the best of a bad situation, EACOM Timber Corporation’s rebuilt sawmill in Timmins will have greater capacity than the mill that was destroyed by fire in January 2012.
“The operation is going to be producing more lumber than it was previously because we’re expanding the mill somewhat,” Rick Doman, EACOM’s president and chief executive, told The Daily Press. “We’ll be looking at increasing capacity at about 20 to 25% than previously, so it’s quite significant.”
The company is investing $25 million to rebuild the mill.
“We spent additional capital in this rebuild than we originally planned so that we could increase our production and capacity,” Doman said. “Our goal is to create a more stable environment and the best way to do that is to ensure all our mills are as cost-competitive as possible.
This will be “better for the people employed there because what it means is the mill is that much more competitive in the global wood market.”
Doman expects the construction to be completed and the sawmill to restart operations by July.
There were about 120 people who worked at the sawmill prior to the fire one year ago. Doman said it will be a two-shift operation and the number of employees working at the sawmill will be about the same as before.
“We’ll start bringing back people earlier for training,” said Doman. “We have a great team of people there and we’re anticipating most if not all of them will come back to the sawmill.”
During the downtime following the fire, there was some question whether or not EACOM would rebuild at the same location along the Mattagami River.
Doman said as far as the company was concerned, there was never any doubt EACOM would rebuild in Timmins following the fire. The fact it would be at the same location was confirmed by the company this summer.
“Historically, it was our most productive mill in EACOM,” Doman told The Daily Press at the time. “We expect it to continue in that direction.”