New sawmill facility to locate at Baie Verte mining property

Charles J. Furey, Minister of Mines and Energy, announced today that a new modern integrated sawmill operation will proceed at the Baie Verte Mining property. Today's announcement follows an earlier communique by the minister in which he awarded the mineral rights for the property to the Canadian Magnesium Corporation.

Northco Forests Products Ltd., of Baie Verte, intends to combine and relocate three smaller independent sawmill operations on the Baie Verte Peninsula to the new site. Northco will lease one of the large buildings at the former Baie Verte mine site for the establishment of the new facility. The project will create 14 news jobs and preserve the existing 100 jobs in the saw milling industry on the peninsula.

"The Baie Verte Mining property is a prime site for this operation given the existing infrastructure, strategic location, opportunity for expansion and reduced capital costs," says Furey. "This is an excellent opportunity for the people in the area and I am confident that the project will be a success."

The department initiated a study to determine the possibility of accepting two of the four proposals submitted in response to a Call for Bids for the development of the former Baie Verte Asbestos industrial site. The study determined that is was possible, if proven feasible, to develop a commercial magnesium plant to extract and produce magnesium metal from the large asbestos tailings pipe and to locate a sawmill operation on the site.

"I am very pleased that both the Northco and the Canadian Magnesium Corporation proposals are compatible," says Furey. "Northco is ready to move forward with the proposal and the effects of the project will begin to be felt almost immediately by the surrounding area."

Minister Furey and Terry White of Northco will sign the lease for the transfer of the facility at 6 p.m. this evening at the Baie Vista Inn in Baie Verte. Following the signing, the minister will speak at the opening dinner of the annual Baie Verte Mining conference.

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