Canadian lumber producer San Group is doubling down on its commitment to Port Alberni with a new $70 million lumber manufacturing facility that will employ 135 people.
San Group said that the facility's products will be speciality cuts using low-grade timber for finishing materials such as door jambs, spindles, bannisters, siding and flooring. The facility will use under-utilized fibre, small logs of hemlock, cedar and fir, from the Island and turn it into finished products.
The company also said that the first phase will involve erecting a sawmill with a planer designed to cut small logs. Once that is operating it will establish the grading system and the third phase will be the establishment of the value-added plant.
San Group added that the new mill will manufacture products for the domestic market, and the Island, in particular, noting loads of lumber are ferried across from the mainland every day. The construction of the new sawmill is scheduled to begin in the spring, and San Group predicts it could be operational very quickly and cutting wood by the early summer.