Paper Excellence invests in North Island First Nation’s chipping operation

Paper Excellence has aquired an interest in the Atli Chip Limited Partnership.

The Partnership acquired the assets of the North Island chipping facility situated in Beaver Cove, located on the traditional territory of the ‘Namgis First Nation.

The facility is capable of processing 300,000 to 400,000 m3 of chips per year for use in the pulp and paper industry from local supplies of pulpwood and salvage wood.

Atli Chip Limited Partnership is majority owned by Atli Resources LP with minority stakes owned by Paper Excellence and Wahkash Contracting Ltd. Atli Resources LP is a forest company owned by the ‘Namgis First Nation. Wahkash Contracting Ltd. is a stump-to-dump logging contractor specializing in remote logging in coastal BC.

“Paper Excellence is proud to be a part of the Atli Chip Limited Partnership,” said Quinton Hayward, Chief Forester for Paper Excellence. “As a company, we understand the importance of being good neighbors and greatly value our relationships with Indigenous communities and their business ventures. This is an exciting opportunity to build mutually beneficial business partnerships and support community investment.”

“We are very excited about the opportunity for Atli Chip Limited Partnership to take over operations of this facility to meet the growing needs of the industry and to acquire a business that we believe will have long-term economic and environmental benefits for the ‘Namgis people and the North Island as a whole,” Don Svanvik, ‘Namgis Chief Councillor said.

“We are proud and excited for the opportunity to work with these partners,” Dorian Uzzell, President of Wahkash Contracting added. “It’s partnerships like this one that build confidence in the forest industry by providing long-term job security in our rural communities.”

In conjunction with the acquisition, Paper Excellence is entering into a chipping services agreement to receive all the chip and hog production from the facility and a Salvage Agreement with Atli Resources LP to increase First Nations participation in the forest sector.

A key goal of the new business is increasing the utilization of local waste and salvage wood in the operations. “Atli Chip Limited Partnership will serve a key role in reducing the amount of residual fibre left behind after primary forest harvesting,” said Hayward. “Processing fibre that currently is left on the forest floor will result in less slash burning of post-harvest waste ensuring better utilization of the forest resources and carbon reduction.”