According to a press release issued February 6, the recently idled Thunder Bay Fine Papers mill in Thunder Bay, ON, has new life under the banner of Superior Fine Papers Inc. The mill which had previous lives under the Provincial, Abitibi and Cascades banners will move forward again under the new SFP banner. The community will see the return of most of the former jobs and countless spinoff jobs to Thunder Bay, at a very opportune time.

The new leadership under Jay, Andrew and Dan Sinclair worked tirelessly over the last few months to make this dream a reality. Former shareholders of the mill have also provided their support to the project.

The start date for operations has not yet been set, but a spokes man said that it would be a matter of weeks as opposed to a matter of months.

The mill had invested over $20 million in upgrades under the TBFP banner and this will serve the new company very well. Double-coated products as well as other machine enhance ments and speed-ups will make SFP's products second to none in the coated paper industry, said the release. SFP will now be the only coated free sheet mill in Canada and is well positioned to serve the North American market.

The veteran sales team, composed of Marc Goguen, Bob Best and David Hunter, has stayed committed throughout the process and are very optimistic of the mill's opportunities and niche grade structure. "The market is always ready for great products at the right place and the right price", says Goguen, vice-president sales and marketing, "and we are in the process of talking to customers about this right now. The reaction has been overwhelming. In fact we have letters of commitment from our key customer base in excess of 90,000 tons, which is roughly half of the mill's output; we are all overwhelmed by the support."

John Hitchman, vice-president of operations for SFP, is also very keen on the mill's prospects. "The machines are ready to roll and all we need is a few weeks to get the supercalenders ready and run some paper," says Hitchman who had been with the mill in the 1970s and 80s, is well seasoned and ready to lead the production team.

Superior Fine Papers will make known brands such as Jenson Plus, Thunder Gloss and Route 88, and a wide range of coated and non-coated postal reply card products. The mill also plans to introduce several niche grades that can respond to recent market demand.

MGoguen@tbfp.net

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