Oregon-based Hampton Lumber plans to open a much anticipated mill in Fort St. James this summer despite recent setbacks.
Hampton Lumber spokesperson Kristin Rasmussen told the Courier in an email that construction at the Fort St. James mill site will continue despite being “negatively affected” by the pandemic, supply chain shortages, and weather. Rasmussen did not provide a specific date or time frame for opening.
“Everyone is working hard to complete the mill and get it up and running, which we expect to occur this summer,” Rasmussen wrote.
Hampton bought the Conifex sawmill in Fort St. James for about $39 million and finalized the purchase of Conifex Timber’s forestry license in 2019.
READ MORE: Hampton Lumber laying foundation for Fort St. James sawmill
The Fort St. James mill is modeled after Hampton’s joint ventures with the Burns Lake Native Development Corporation, which owns the Babine and Decker Lake sawmills.
District of Fort St. James Mayor Bob Motion said the local economy “took quite a hit” when the previous Conifex mill shut down — that led to workers leaving the community.
Motion said he gets regular calls from residents wanting to know what to expect from the new mill.
“That’s actually reflected in the census numbers. Fort St. James is down almost 200 people and the surrounding areas are down around 100 people — which is really quite significant. The mill is very important to us. We are a forestry community,” Motion said.
Uncertainty in the logging industry that the community depends on “has put the fear into everyone in the industry,” Motion said. He said the number of jobs created by the new mill will be lower than at the previous Conifex mill, but a more streamlined operation could also bring stability.
“It’s a bit of a moving target as to how many people are speculated to be employed there. The good thing about the mill is we’ve got an operator who knows what they’re doing to start with and it will be a highly efficient operation.”
“So in that sense, it should be able to weather the storm during the lows of the number market.”
With a file from Aman Parhar
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