Fortress Paper plans to halt its dissolving pulp conversion project of a pulp mill in Québec (Lebel-sur-Quévillon), due to changing market conditions and higher capital expenditure. "Due to changing economics and market conditions, there is no assurance that the FGC mill project will proceed to completion as previously planned," Fortress Paper said in the presentation of its first quarter results. A decision on the final strategic direction of the FGC project is expected early in the third quarter. Fortress Paper purchased the idle 300,000 tpy NBSK Lebel-sur-Quévillon pulp mill from Domtar in June 2012. The goal was to convert the facility into a 250,000 tpy dissolving pulp mill. Estimated capital and start-up costs were CAD222m, with the Quebec Government financing CAD132.4m, according to Fortress Paper.
