Proposed pellet mill finds a home
Project proponent finally owns 3.2-square-kilometre site in Enterprise
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Monday, May 23, 2016
ENTERPRISE
On May 12, Brad Mapes got the news he had been waiting to hear.
Mapes, the proponent of a project to build a wood pellet mill in Enterprise, got an e-mail from his lawyers that his company has legal title to 3.2 square kilometres of land on which to build the project.
"So Aurora Wood Pellets Ltd. is officially owner of the land at the mill site," he told News/North the next day. "This is a huge step for us ... I'm pretty happy, not just for my company but for the region."
The land was purchased from the Hamlet of Enterprise and Mayor Craig McMaster welcomed the finalization of the sale.
"The Hamlet of Enterprise is very excited about the much anticipated pellet mill and Enterprise looks forward to building a strong relationship with all industry," McMaster said in a prepared statement for News/North.
Neither Mapes nor McMaster would reveal the purchase price of the land, which is located on the east side of Highway 1, about 3.5 km north of where the railway crosses the highway in Enterprise.
Mapes visited his new property on May 13 and described some of the first changes that will be visible to travellers passing by on the highway.
In the coming months, they will start to see trees being removed from the site, which stretches for about one kilometre along the highway.
However, Mapes said a barrier of trees will be left along the highway, except for the area that will become the entrance to the mill. This area currently does not have many trees.
"We're looking at clearing all the land and getting all that set up this summer and getting some of the foundation work done, and it's probably going to go into the fall," said Mapes, explaining the foundation work will involve the pouring of cement.
Work beyond that will have to wait until final agreements are reached for the supply of timber.
The harvest agreement for Fort Resolution is "pretty well done," Mapes said, while adding work still needs to be done to create a similar agreement in Fort Providence.
Once those agreements are reached and construction of the mill actually begins, the work should take about 14 months to complete.
"It's still a pipedream until you see me dig a hole in the ground," he said.
The mill is expected to produce at least 150,000 cubic metres of pellets each year but that could increase depending on supply.
A 150,000-cubic-metre production would mean about 45 to 50 jobs at the site and probably 55 truck drivers plus spin-off jobs.
Harvesting will be controlled by community groups, including in Fort Resolution and Fort Providence. Mapes expressed a desire to get aboriginal groups in the Hay River area involved in the project, including K'atlodeeche First Nation, West Point First Nation and the Hay River Metis Government Council.
"I want to make sure that this project is not just my project," he said. "It's our project."
Mapes owns 97 per cent of Aurora Wood Pellets Ltd., while the other three per cent is held by former NWT premier Joe Handley.
"It is a big project for me. I want to move forward," said Mapes. "I'm just tired of talking about it. I want to see it happen."
