Mercer Celgar has announced that it will be temporarily laying off the majority of its workforce at its Castlegar mill for the month of July.
The company announced on May 29 that it would be having 30 days of downtime at the mill due to reduced fibre availability from sawmills impacted by COVID-19, additional costs on sawlog stumpage charges on pulpwood and an oversupply of already-harvested pulp wood created by provincial stumpage rules.
In a statement, the company said it will lose approximately 52,000 tonnes of pulp production during the downtime.
While its possible the downtime could last beyond the end of July, the company said it plans to be operational again in early August.
The mill will be also closed for an additional five days on top of the downtime for regularly planned maintenance.
Mercer Celgar employs approximately 430 people at its Castlegar location.
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