120 full-time jobs coming for northern Sask. OSB production plant
The Government of Saskatchewan has approved a timber allocation for One Sky Forestry Products to advance the development of an oriented strand board (OSB) plant in the Prince Albert area.
The move will provide the company with timber for the plant, with the remainder of the wood sourced from other mills and Indigenous and private logging companies.
"We have been working with our Saskatchewan investors and First Nations partners for over a year to get to this point and are eager to move to the next phase of project development,” said One Sky founder and board chair Brian Fehr in a news release.
The facility will cost $250 million to build, said One Sky Forest Products vice-president of projects Erik Munck.
One Sky plans to start construction in 2022 and open in fall 2023.
Contracting opportunities for local trades will be available during construction, as well as in the ongoing operation of the OSB facility, said Munck.
Once complete, the OSB plant will have about 120 full-time positions.
Munck estimated the Prince Albert operation will create about another 700 forestry sector jobs in logging, transportation and the service industry.
He said the company has a “priority of hiring a predominantly Indigenous workforce."
The company has partnered with Peak Renewables, local investors and 12 First Nations represented by Montreal Lake Business Ventures, Meadow Lake Tribal Council together with Big River First Nation and Wahpeton Dakota Developments.
“As an investor in the One Sky Forest Products OSB Facility, Wahpeton Dakota Developments looks forward to contributing to the creation of new jobs and business opportunities in the Prince Albert region,” says Cy Standing, chair of Wahpeton Dakota Developments.
The company is also sourcing fiber through agreements with First Nations and other forestry businesses located in the Prince Albert region.
The facility will have the capacity to produce 600 million square feet of OSB per year.
One Sky said the plant will need 845,000 cubic metres of timber per year to reach its quantity production targets.
"The One Sky project will help achieve the ambitious goal in our growth plan to double the province's forestry sector by 2030,” said Energy and Resources Minister Bronwyn Eyre.
In 2020, more than $1.1 billion worth of Saskatchewan forest products were sold – an almost 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Feds hope to table foreign interference legislation next week: LeBlanc
Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he plans to table legislation this week to help the federal government address foreign interference, but he wouldn't say whether the proposal will include a foreign agent registry.
Auston Matthews skates ahead of Game 7, status unclear with season on the line
Centre Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs hasn't been ruled out of tonight's Game 7 against the Boston Bruins.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.