Central Louisiana Sawmill Ramped Up to Full Operations
Rubber and Wood | 2019-05-30 08:03:20
The sawmill had its first commercial lumber shipment in March this year.
By Paul Ploumis
SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): LaSalle Lumber Co. LLC has dedicated a $115 million sawmill in the community of Urania, Central Louisiana. The dedication of the joint venture project between Hunt Forest Products and British Columbia-based Tolko Industries was attended among others by Gov. John Bel Edwards and leaders from both the joint venture partner companies.
The plant, which has a production capacity of around 200 million board feet of lumber per year, has already started production. The sawmill had its first commercial lumber shipment in March this year and has now been ramped up to full operations, running two 10-hour shifts, four days per week.
The LaSalle Lumber Co. LLC sawmill project had received a loan of $1 million under the Economic Development Award Program. The mill has already generated 115 jobs in the region with an average salary of approximately $46,000 plus benefits per year. According to Louisiana Economic Development officials, the mill is expected to create additional 300 plus indirect jobs in central Louisiana.
The plant is built in 125 acres of a former Louisiana Pacific lumber mill site. The residual wood waste from the mill’s lumber operations is supplied to nearby renewable energy manufacturing plant operated by Drax Biomass, where they are converted into pellets. The pellets are shipped to UK through the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, where they are used as fuel for electric power generation plants.
