Former Prince Albert paper mill site facing demolition

The once-quiet site of Prince Albert’s former paper mill will soon be busy with activity.

Several building structures have been deemed unsafe and are unnecessary for any future operations. The paper mill, paper additives, sheeter and folio are among the buildings slated for demolition.

The demolition project is anticipated to take nine months.

“The buildings have been damaged by the recent plough winds and without the paper machine housed there anymore, the damaged buildings are just a just a liability,” Joel Young with Paper Excellence said. Young’s company owns and operates the mill.

He said the demolition project will not remove any of the Kraft pulp mill or the auxiliary support system equipment.

“Everything is being preserved for both power generation and pulp mill operation for the future,” Young said.

When asked for an update on the pulp mill restart, Young could not provide a firm answer.

“It’s still hopefully to be restarted in the future,” he said.

In the summer of 2014, Paper Excellence announced it would be shutting down its Green Energy Project until a startup date for the main part of the pulp mill can be decided upon.

There has been no activity at the site since this time.