News Release

MIRAMICHI (GNB) – The provincial government’s forestry plan has stimulated a $400,000 private investment from Northern Energy Solutions to examine the potential of constructing a pellet plant in the Miramichi region.

The company has received a letter of intent from the Department of Natural Resources stating that if the project is feasible, the company will receive 378,000 cubic metres of softwood from forestry Region 3 (Nepisiguit-Miramichi).

“We have been working with Northern Energy Solutions and are impressed by their vision for New Brunswick’s forestry sector and for the Miramichi region,” said Natural Resources Minister Paul Robichaud. “Our government is fully supportive of the overall investment and job creation that would result from a pellet plant, which is why we are pleased to provide the wood allotment from crown lands. I look forward to the results of their research and anticipate that together we can create new forestry jobs in this area for generations to come.”

Company president Ross Creelman, who has 40 years of forestry experience in New Brunswick, is confident the plant will be constructed.

“I have always been interested in forestry projects in New Brunswick, and I believe this would be ideal for the region,” Creelman said. “Our pre-evaluation study was very positive and now we take it to a more detailed stage. We look forward to getting the study underway and we will keep the public apprised of our progress. This plant would provide an excellent vehicle for the use of pulp in the area which is currently being left on the forest’s floor because pulp mills in the region have closed.”

Creelman recently sold Marwood Ltd., a wood products company near Fredericton, to a group of its employees. He owned the company, which has more than 200 employees, for more than 40 years. He was also one of the pioneers of pellet plant construction, having built one of the first in Canada 23 years ago.

The Miramichi plant would ship pellets to industrial energy plants overseas, where it would be used as a cleaner fuel to displace coal.

If the results from Northern Energy Solutions feasibility study are positive – resulting in the construction of pellet plant in Miramichi – the province will provide 200,000 cubic metres of pulp wood.  The plant would also need additional wood allocations requiring approximately 100,000 cubic metres of pulp wood annually from private woodlots.

It is estimated that a plant would produce 200,000 tonnes of pellets annually. It would employ 25 technicians and engineers as well as support 75 jobs in the woods.

Northern Energy Solutions estimates it will invest $300,000 to $400,000 on the study, which will take about eight months to complete. It is anticipated the plant would cost $45 million to $50 million.

In March 2014, the provincial government released a Strategy for Crown Lands Management for the province. The plan is expected to stimulate private investments of $600 million across the province, which would create 500 direct jobs and 1,200 construction jobs. Forestry in New Brunswick employs more than 20,000 men and women. The sector generates $1.45 billion in economic activity annually.