September 8, 2008

British Columbia firm closes U.S. board mill permanently

VANCOUVER

Ainsworth Lumber Co. Ltd. says it has decided to permanently close its idled oriented-strand board mill in Grand Rapids, Minn.

The mill, which has not been in operation since September 2006, formerly employed 190 people.

The Grand Rapids mill was built in 1980 and was acquired by Ainsworth in 2004 as part of the acquisition of Potlatch Corp.’s oriented-strand board business, which supplies panels used primarily in house construction.

“We made the very difficult decision to permanently close the facility following a strategic review of the mill’s ability to be competitive both today and over the longer term”, Ainsworth chief executive officer Robert Allen said in a statement.

“Given ... the structural challenges of operating in this region, and the condition of the mill at the time it was delivered to us by Potlatch, we simply cannot rationalize making the significant investment required to make the mill economically viable.”

Canadian Press

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