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HAY RIVER
Hay River entrepreneur Brad Mapes has a plan that he thinks will create an immediate forest industry in the Northwest Territories.

Hay River entrepreneur Brad Mapes has no experience with forestry, but he wants to build an $8.5 million pellet mill to heat buildings in the Northwest Territories. - Jack Danylchuk/NNSL photo

All he needs is support from First Nations, a long-term forest management agreement in the Deh Cho, and $8.5 million financing to build a 60,000 tonne per year pellet mill.

None of those are beyond reach, said Mapes, the owner of Wesclean Northern Sales and Aurora Decorating Centre. At least two other groups have plans to build pellet mills in the territories, he said, "but on a smaller scale and with government money. This will be financed by me, through the banks.

"The forest management agreement is the potential stumbling block," Mapes said. "Forest management agreements here don't run longer than a year. I need an agreement that runs more than 10 years to secure bank financing."

Most of the forest land is in the Deh Cho, and subject to unresolved land claims - a point that stopped at least one earlier proposal to log portions of the region's forests and turn them into fuel pellets.

Mapes said his plan "would involve five First Nations. I've discussed it with them, and had a good response. They need to play a big part in the operations."

Enterprise is a possible location for the mill that would produce pellets and timber for re-sawing by smaller lumber mills. The mill would draw on forests within a 280 km radius, he said.

The project would include Fort Providence, Kakisa, Jean Marie River, Hay River and Fort Resolution.

"There would be 25 to 50 jobs at the mill year-round, and 40 to 50 more harvesting in winter," said Mapes, who proposes to move logs and pellets by truck, but even more by barges, which would also store and deliver pellets to communities.

"It's a totally new industry; we're creating a new workforce," said Mapes, who is confident that the forests can be sustained.

"One of the concerns is that all the trees will be killed off, but the forest inventory is huge," he said. "Now, it's just rotting.

"Most of it will not be clear-cut. We'll utilize areas that have been burned and where re-growth is tight and needs to be thinned. If the pipeline is built, trees will be harvested from the right-of-way and that is a huge amount of timber to be salvaged."

Mapes said it's will be a year to 14 months before the mill could begin operation, and he wants to break ground on the mill next year.

Markets are almost a given, he said.

International demand for pellets could take the entire production, he said, while government, business and homes in Yellowknife could soon increase consumption to 30,000 tonnes a year - the minimum volume needed to support a pellet mill.

"Yellowknife demand is key to our proposal and it's only going to grow," said Mapes.

The city now relies heavily on pellets from LaCrete in northern Alberta, and Mapes said a mill in the territories "could easily cut costs by 30 per cent."

"The opportunity to export is huge as well. We are looking at exporting half of what we produce, but in five years, we could be consuming all we produce."

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