...I have been gone for a week....
---Laughter
...and the community council all agreed to the framework proposed in the agreement. The Development Corporation board accepted the proposal on March 5, 1993.
The Development Corporation investment will be in the form of money provided for capital purchases, retirement of astounding debts -- not astounding, sorry -- outstanding debts...
---Laughter
...some might say astounding -- and one-time start up costs of $820,000 and working capital of $700,000. The Development Corporation's total proposed investment is $1.52 million. The capital purchases include the cost of repairing the existing mill, the purchase of new equipment and the acquisition of an office.
It is expected that the mill will employ about 16 community residents. Additional jobs will be created as logging of the Slave River lowlands will be carried out by Fort Resolution residents. The sawmill production is targeted at five million board feet per year. It has been estimated that there is enough wood in the Slave River lowlands to support this production pace for 20 to 25 years. It is anticipated logging activities will begin in January of 1994, with milling in February or March of 1994.
Closure Of The Mill
A number of factors lead to the demise of the mill operation. Some of the major causes of the demise of the mill were:
- from its beginning, new operations were hampered by poor equipment;
- the mill had a reputation for being unreliable and for not having a quality product, and to eradicate this reputation, sold lumber at lower than cost prices to attract the buyers;
- management fraud;
- in March of 1987, the Slave River Sawmill Ltd. entered into an agreement with the Native Economic Development Program (NEDP) for funding. The first payment was delayed because all conditions were not met resulting in the new mill not being completed until well beyond milling season, thus remaining inoperative;
- poor weather caused a delay in the 1987 to 1988 logging season, but the NEDP pressured management to move forward before further assistance would be forthcoming. The company broke its contract with the logging contractor and retained the service of another, resulting in a further delay and the logging quota for the year not being met.
Other factors contributed to the unsuccessful operation of the mill. For example, instead of selling logs for firewood to raise working capital, logs were given away to community members. Lumber was sold to a southern company. When the truck arrived, no one was hired to load the vehicle and the truck returned south empty. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was somewhat lengthy, but important.