FORT FRANCES – The Town of Fort Frances is pleased to have been informed that Repap Resources Group has notified Resolute Forest Products that it wishes to negotiate the purchase of the shuttered Fort Frances papermill assets, with the intention of quickly moving to restart the facility in 2019.
“We look forward to assisting Repap Resources Group in their bid to purchase the Fort Frances paper mill. Returning 263 new jobs in the Rainy River District is remarkable. It will not only reunite families will also provide long-term opportunities for our youth. We thank Repap Resources Group for their interest in investing in the future of Fort Frances.” says Mayor June Caul.
Repap Resources Group is a private investment group that is partnering with 4Front Capital Partners Inc., an investment bank in Toronto. Repap’s management team consists of professionals with more than 180 years of combined senior executive experience in the pulp and paper industries. Repap plans to produce packaging grades (sack kraft papers) from the Fort Frances Mill.
The Fort Frances pulp and paper mill was closed in 2014 by Resolute Forest Products. Resolute Forest Products committed to heat the empty mill facility at the request of the Government of Ontario and has been actively seeking buyers.
To reopen the manufacturing facility, Repap will also have to successfully negotiate with the Province, access to the fibre currently assigned to the Fort Frances mill from the local Crossroute Forest. In 2016, Resolute identified enough fibre was available to operate the Fort Frances mill during negotiations with another potential buyer.
The Town of Fort Frances is located in Northwestern Ontario, approximately 350 km east of Thunder Bay on the shores of Rainy Lake at the Canada/USA border. The Town was home to an active papermill from 1914 to 2014, with a potential restart in 2019. The Rainy River District population is approximately 20,000, 25% of which are indigenous peoples.
