Wausau reported capital spending through the first half of 2008 at $14.4 million compared with $13.1 million last year. Total 2008 spending is expected to be about $50 million with the $31-million rebuild of a toweling machine at Middletown, OH, and a $15-million fiber handling and stock-blending project at Brokaw, WI. www.wausau.com

Cascades will spend $C15 million at its tissue mill in Lachute, QC, to increase its converting capacity and efficiency. A single line will replace five lines. www.cascades.com

Inter national Paper sold about 13 million acres of mineral rights in northwest Louisiana to Chesapeake Energy Corp. for about $263 million and used the proceeds to reduce debt. Since 2005, IP has sold over $11 billion worth of assets. www.internationalpaper.com.

Jeffrey Specialty Equipment Corp. and Rader Companies are to merge and be called Jeffrey Rader Corp. Jeffrey bought Rader in 2007. The companies serve the pulp and paper, forest products, building materials, coal mining, energy generation and bio-energy industries. Headquarters will be in Woodruff, SC, at Jeffrey's facility. Rader's offices in Montreal, QC, Vancouver, BC, and Stockholm, Sweden, will continue operations. www.jeffreycorp.com

IKPP Serang, Indonesia, part of the Sinar Mas Group, installed a Voith SolarFlow polyurethane cover on PM B and reported a dewatering volume improvement of about 26%. The cover has a suction, blind-drilled, grooved surface. The open area was enlarged by almost one-third. The mill makes folding boxboard and containerboard. According to Voith, the mill is divided into two machines with interchangeable rolls: PM A (consisting of PMs 1, 2 and 4); PM B (consisting of PMs 3 and 6, which are two identical machines). Voith supplied the rolls to PM 6 and says the benefits with it also apply to PM 3. www.voith.com.