Repap hopes Orenda will buffer wood loss TAKING OVER Orenda Forest Products is going to help but not completely replace wood Repsp is losing as a result of the tentative Nisga’a land claims deal, Says a company official. That's because Repap already has a sales agreement to buy pulp and saw logs from Orenda, Pat Ogawa said last week. Ogawa made the comment after Repap announced it was prepared to pay up to $25 million to buy Orenda and its forest licence in the Meziadin area, “This is consistent with our strategy from Day One to enhance our fibre security,’’ said Ogawa, Secure fibre supplies is the name of the game among B.C. forest products com- panies who try to be as self sufficient as possible to protect themselves from diminishing supplies and, at times, rising prices. The tentative deal with Orenda would give Repap control over an additional 342,000 cubic metres of wood. That would help buffer the loss of as much as 170,000 cubic metres of wood to he Nisga’a as part of its proposed land Jaims deal with the provincial and federal zovernments, But since Repap already has a sales igreement to buy up to 240,000 cubic netres of saw and pulp wood a year from Jrenda, not much will be added to its. in- ventory, said Ogawa. “What we're really doing bere is secur- ing our supply,’’ he added, The buy deal with Orenda is for 10 years ind runs out in the next two years, Making a bid for Orenda locks up the And while Repap is making a play for Orenda, it is also looking to set up a long term relationship with the Nisga’a by offer- ing them the chance to oblain 49 per cent of Orenda, “We've been working pretty hard to set up good working relations with the Nisga’a,”’ said Ogawa. “‘We don’t intend on leaving the (Nass) Valley and they don’t intend on leaving the valley so it makes sense to work together,” he added. The deal to buy Orenda is subject to ap- proval by Repap’s board of directors and a formal share purchase offering is expected by May 1. Repap says it wants to buy at least 75 per cent of Orenda’s 8,2 million shares and will pay $3 each. The great majority of Orenda’s shares are held by its senior managers and they’ve al- ready agreed to the deal, The proposed sales deal is also subject to the approval of forests minister Dennis Streifel because it involves an ownership change in the forest licence held by Orenda, He’s promised a series of meetings around the northwest to gather public opinion before making a decision. Forest licence ownership changes are evaluated as to whether or not they will contributed to the economic development and stability of communities. Ogawa said Repap has been talking to Orenda for some time but wouldn't com- nent on suggestions the company turned down a Repap offer of $4 a share last fall. Repap already carries significant debt but it does want $80 million from the provin- PICTURES, WALL CLOCKS, HARDWARE, COSMETICS, WALLETS, SUNGLASSES supply and doesn’t place Repap in the posi- tion of having to outbid other potential buyers, cial government to compensate for the loss of wood to the Nisga’a and that might help finance the Orenda buy. TVS, VCRs, STEREOS, HOUSEWARES, TOYS ICAMERAS, STATIONARY Jaa -a thick granite wall, with Company tries again REPAP’S $25 million bid for Orenda Forest Products is the second time ina year the company has had a buyer. Barly last year a New York-based group formed OFP Acquisition Corp to buy the company and ship its wood south to a pulp and paper plant at Gold River on Van- couver Island, Back then the bid price was $5.50, sig- nificantly higher than the $3 a share Repap is now offering. The deal ultimately fell through when OFP decided it wouldn’t get the approval of then-forests minister Andrew Petter. : There was stretiuous opposition to the proposed OFP deal by northwestern politicians who didn’t want to sce the ex- port of wood from the area. That opposition was based on Orenda’s long standing plan to use its wood from the Meziadin arca to supply a pulp and paper mill it wanted to build, Orenda received its forest licence in 1985 on the provision it construct a wood pro- cessing facility. The company did spend millions of dol- lars in developing plans but never did find the necessary backing to go ahead. It also moved its planned mill location from near Meziadin, north of Kitwanga on Hwy37, to a location between Terrace and Kitimat. Columbarium going ahead Criticism of Orenda’s lack of progress grew in the carly 1990s and intensified when the tentative OFP deal was announc- ed in early 1995, “] said they were playing silly bugger then and J drew a lot of flack for it but who tumed out to be right??? commented Stewart mayor Andy Burton last week on the proposed deal between Orenda and Repap. Burton and other Stewart and area resi- dents had been counting on Orenda’s plans to add jobs to the area. ‘“‘There’s still a chance of something happening. We'll have 1o wail and see,”’ said Burton. Should the Orenda-Repap deal go through, itll mark the end of a plan stretch. ing back to the 1980s for a more diversified forest indusiry and processing base in the northwest. The Orenda forest licence of 1985 was one of three granted in the Meziadin-Bell Irving area. Tay-M’s licence has since been bought up by West Fraser (which operates Skeena Sawmills in Terrace) and Repap has al- ready taken over Buffalo Head Forest Pro- ducts, the second company granted one of the licences. The one benefit, said Stewart mayor Burton, is that existing northwest process- ing facilitics have gained supply security, =" ee ‘os : TERRACE RESIDENTS will soon have a new option when it comes to burying their loved ones. MacKay’s Funcral Service plans to erect a colum- barium in the graveyard on Kalum Lake Rd. A columbarium looks like compartments to hold the remains of people who’ve are been cremated -—~ or cremains, Maggie MacKay, a funeral service provider, hopes the paperwork will be finished in lime to install the colum- barium this spring or summer. *'There’s becn a lot of interest expressed in it,”’ says MacKay. The one which the funeral home plans to install will be made from gray and black granite and will have roses etched on the side, [t will hold somewhere between 40-48 niches. Right now there are only two options for disposing of cremains, They can be discreetly scattered, or buried in a cremation plot in the graveyard. If the columbarium proves a popular alternative, MacK- ay says they’li be looking at installing a second one next year in the Kitsumkalum Pioneer Cemetery, down the road, That cemetery is full, so putting a columbarium there would provide a way for familics to buried close lo each other, MacKay isn’t sure whether that columbarium would go in the cemetery or in the memorial garden planned ad- jacent to the graveyard. That garden is Terrace Beautification Society project and will feature a memorial wall. It probably won't be started for another year or two. Maggie MacKay — ~~ at CIRTAWE |b! 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