The UPM Maine mill that would be most affected by the restart of the Port Hawkesbury paper mill is in Madison, which produces 220,000 tons of paper a year and employs about 240 people. Both mills produce the same grade of supercalendered paper used for gloss magazines and catalogs.
Despite news that could have derailed the sale and reopening of a shuttered paper mill in this maritime province, Nova Scotia’s government on Friday said it would sweeten the already generous deal it has offered the mill’s prospective buyer in an effort to keep the sale on track and get the mill restarted by the end of the month. Pacific West Commercial Corp. is the potential buyer of the Port Hawkesbury paper mill from NewPage Corp. The provincial government has offered the company $124.5 million in loans and other assistance to help it restart the mill, which paper industry observers say would have a negative impact on Maine paper mills that make the same grade of supercalendered paper.
