Company Changes
Our Quesnel sawmill in British Columbia closed permanently because of insufficient timber availability in the region to supply the mill, owing to the mountain pine beetle epidemic. In partnership with the United Steelworkers, we set up a transition committee shortly after announcing the closure. This is part of our commitment to assisting the 209 people affected through a transfer to another of our facilities or by helping with local placements.
In March, we closed the sale of our Daaquam sawmill in Saint-Just-de-Bretenières, Quebec, to Groupe Lebel Inc. The mill was not core to our Canadian operations, which are in western Canada.
In August, we announced plans to purchase the operating assets of Balfour Lumber Company and Beadles Lumber Company – including sawmills in Thomasville and Moultrie, Georgia. The mills are in an area with a high quality and sustainable fibre supply and produce quality southern yellow pine lumber. When near-term capital enhancements are completed, they will have a combined capacity of 210 million board feet. We acquired 55% of Balfour/Beadles when the agreement closed in January 2015, and will attain the balance in January 2017.
In September, we announced plans to purchase the operating assets of Southern Lumber Company, Inc., with closing expected in the first quarter of 2015. The acquisition includes a large log southern yellow pine sawmill at Hermanville, Mississippi, that produces predominately long, wide width lumber and has a capacity of 90 million board feet.
We finalized the phased purchase agreement to buy Scotch Gulf Lumber of Alabama over three years in 2013. We currently hold one third of the company, which has sawmills in Mobile, Jackson and Fulton. This will increase to 50% in February 2015 and 100% in August 2016.
In January 2015, Canfor announced the sale of its Taylor, BC, pulp mill to Canfor Pulp. This is expected to have operational synergies as it will align all of our pulp and paper operations under the expertise of our Canfor Pulp leadership.