Northern Pulp has confirmed it was unable to secure the necessary funding for a new mill project in Liverpool.
In a statement Northern Pulp says it has completed a comprehensive feasibility study which concluded the company could not achieve the 14 per cent Internal Rate of Return needed in the settlement agreement with the province to develop a modern bioproducts hub. As a result, Northern Pulp says it will begin a court-supervised sales of its assets under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. Proceeds from the asset sale will repay debt incurred in the CCAA process, fund pension plans and contribute to site maintenance and closure costs. Any remaining funds will go to the provincial government.
Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton says the province did everything it could to make the project a reality. He adds that while it is not the outcome it had hoped for, the government remains a partner with the industry in exploring in how it might work together with the federal government in attracting a new partner that sees the potential of doing business in Nova Scotia.
Northern Pulp has been under creditor protecton for the past five years after closing its Pictou County mill, eliminating 300 jobs and affecting 2,000 positions in the forestry sector.
The former Liberal government ordered the shutdown after Northern Pulp failed to meet the province’s environmental requirements for a new effluent treatment plant