A sawmill that recently started up outside of Moricetown has found a way to make a business out of unwanted wood.
Seaton Forest Products started up about a month ago that uses the dry balsam wood that the larger mills don’t use.
“A certain percentage of the logging block is dry balsam that cant be put through their mills. So now we can give them a home for it,” says co-owner Andy Thompson.
So far their mill near Moricetown has sent out nine truck loads of ‘cant'(Raw Product) destined for markets in Asia, sending their wood-chips to Burns Lake.
“When we put our logs through the sawmill we get slabs off the sides, and we’re chipping those slabs and selling them to Pinnacle Pellet(in Burns Lake).”
He started one in Burns Lake that changed ownership “and one in Fort St James targeting the same market of dry, decadent wood that the mills don’t typically take,” says Thompson. The one in Fort St James has since closed.
He says he’s finally seen success with the new operation near Moricetown with the right equipment. Plans are to have that operation pumping out 60 thousand square feet of board a day.
Right now the new mill has 15 employees. With a small expansion planned, he may be hiring one or two more.