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Terrace Review — Wednesday November 21, 1990 A5

-Orenda seeks reaction of local public
‘and government to "leading-edge" project |

by Michael Kelly

A representative of Ofrenda
Forest Products said in Terrace last
week that the company’s pulp and
paper. mill proposed for construc-
tion near Meziadin Junction will
provide long-term employment for

the region, stabilize the local log-

ging industry and use trees more
efficiently than is possible with
their current operation.

Orenda wants to build the $310

‘million plant to take advantage of

the pulp content of their 360,000
cubic metre forest licence in the
North Kalum.-As proposed the mill
would use 570 man-years of work
to build and employ a staff of 143
permanent employees to operate.
"It’s not just a pulp mill, it’s a
leading edge project," said Frank
Foster, vice president of Orenda.

The proposal uses a Scandinavian

design pulp mill. ¢oupled with a
paper machine to produce light-
weight coated paper of the type
used in glossy ~magazines and
brochures. The mill’s capacity is
tailored to the company’s annual
allowable cut in its forest licence,
Foster said. It is expected to con-
sume 183,000 cubic metres of pulp
logs to produce 173,000 tons of
paper.

Orenda will be buying the pulp
mill, a chemi-pressurized ground-
wood design from Tampella of
Finland. Foster said the design has
been in existence for eight years
and there are six such plants in
North America. The logs, cut into
bolts about two metres long, ate
fed down a chute, coming to rest
against a rotating 20-ton grind-
stone. The logs are pressed into the
stone by hydraulic rams and: are

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resulting mass is pressed into
continuous sheets and dried by a
vacuuming process, then combined
into a matrix with kraft pulp.
Foster explained that the kraft
pulp is required for fibre length
because in the grinding process the
pulp fibres are "fibrillated" —- the
cell walls are ruptured — and
long, unruptured fibres are
required for strength. Orenda
expecis the pulp to be about 20
percent kraft pulp, which it will

have to purchase from one of the °
‘north coast kraft mills:- ~~ -

The process has several advan-
tages over kraft pulping, not the
least of which is that there is no
chlorine used in it. Foster claims it
will be a zero-effluent operation,
with water circulating in a closed
loop, having the slurry removed
and being returned to the pulping
process after being distilled.

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produces water and oxygen.
Foster says the plant will also be
efficient, producing nearly a ton of
paper for every cubic metre of
wood it consumes. In one sense
that efficiency will be a problem
— Foster expects that the opera-
tion will have to import wood
waste from other northwest wood
processors to use as boiler fuel.

Under the renewal terms of its
forest licence Nov. 1, Orenda’s
annual allowable cut was reduced
{o 342,000 cubic metres, of which
Foster estimates 68 percent is pulp.
He expects the sawlog content of
the timber profile to increase,
however, once the mill is in opera-
tion.

Foster explains that the mill’s
design enabies it- to use short
lengths of pulp logs. Many of the
trees cut on the licence are rotted
at either end but sound in the
middle — being able to use short
lengths means that the rotted ends
can be cut off and used for pulp
while the sound centre section can
be marketed as a sawlog.

Under the current operation such
logs have to be sold as pulp. Fos-
ter estimates the change in practice
could increase the sawlog compo-
nent on Orenda’s licence by as
much as 15 percent. That increase
would be sold entirely on the

‘Foster figures 32 ‘percent of the
logs currently cut by Orenda are
sawlogs, and of those 20 percent
are exported as raw logs, with the
remaining 80 percent being sold on
the domestic timber market. With
regard to the possibility of impend-

ing restrictions on log exports,

Foster remarked, "We'll maximize
our profits as long as we can."

The company’s logging activities
provide work for 200 people. Fos-
ter said that won’t change.

Orenda examined eight potential
locations in the Northwest before
deciding on the Van Dyke area, a
site adjacent to its wood supply. It
was chosen, Foster said, because it
will have the least environmental
impact, has a supply of ground
water, offers an attractive proxim-
ity to transportation routes east and
west and has an adequate hydro-
electric supply for peak demand.

Stewart appeared to be a finalist
for the location, but Foster said the
community will still benefit from
employment — he expects many
of the plant workers to come from
Stewart and says Orenda plans to
set up a bus transportation system
for daily commuting fo and from
Stewart. It will be a 24-hour-a-day,
seven-day-a-week operation, he
said.

Hydro power was a consideration
in the site selection because start-
ing the mill up requires a huge
surge of power. The four 20-ton
gtindstones are rotated by 9,000-
horsepower electric motors. Foster
noted that further down the power
line there is less power available

duc to dissipation losses in the
transmission fines.

The . finished product will be
either trucked to Stewart for trans-

fer onto — self-loading coastal
freighters or sent to Kitwanga and
transferred to CN Rail for delivery
to eastern buyers.

Foster declined to reveal what
the company estimates it will cost
to get the pulp logs out of the
forest and into the plant. "We'd
like to keep that confidential, but
we're going to be very competi-
tive."

Orenda’s pulp mill concept
initially became public with an
application for Pulpwood Agree-
ment 17, an offering of pulp-qual-
ity timber by the Ministry of
Forests. Public reaction to the offer
was critical, and the ministry with-
drew it last month because declin-
ing world pulp markets had killed
interest among the applicants for
the wood. Foster said the public
reaction, however, had a telling
influence on Orenda’s plans.

"It helped determine the design
of the project," he said. Orenda
was originally going to build the
pulp mill alone, but Foster said PA
17 made the company realize that
the further value-added component
of a paper machine would help
public acceptance of the project.

During his time in the Northwest
Foster met with representatives of

‘the District of Stewart and the

Stewart Chamber of Commerce.
He also talked to Terrace city
council and the candidates for
council Nov. 14 and is scheduled

“to ‘Make a presentation to the

Regional District of Kitimat-
Stikine at the end of the month. He
has also spoken to Terrace and
District Chamber of Commerce
members.

Orenda hasn’t had direct dis-
cussion with any native groups on
the subject of land claims in their
forest licence area, Foster said.
"We're aS concerned about the
uncertainty as the rest of the indus-
try, and we think the solution is a
political one," he said. "We are the
tenants on the land, not the land-
lords. We’re looking for guidance
in dealing with the Nisga’a. This
round of meetings is taking place
to help us with our planning.

"The mill is going to be for the
benefit of all residents of the
Northwest. As for the jobs, they
{native people) are certainly as
qualified as anyone else.”

Orenda expects to file a prospec-
tus with the Major Project Review
process of the provincial govern-
ment in time to have approval for
construction in the spring. The
process involves referrals and
responses from several government
ministries, and will probably
requite public hearings.

Orenda, Foster said, is a public
company trading on the Toronto
and Vancouver stock exchanges.
There are 6.5 million outstanding
shares, with Orenda holding major-
ity control. They are secking
financing from banks and private
investors to capitalize the project,
and Foster said he expects the final
arrangement will be a joint ven- .
ture, but he declined to speculate
on the identity of the prospective
partner,