The future of the Woodfibre site is still unclear, but the pulp mill itself is already headed for a new life in China.The largest parts of the disassembled mill are sitting on a two-acre parcel of land at the Port of Nanaimo as a company in China prepares to import it. Nanaimo Port Authority sales and marketing manager Doug Peterson said he expects the mill to be relocated overseas by the end of the year once the logistics of the move have been finalized.In the meantime, the pulp mill's equipment and parts sit divided among two B.C. locations. The moving company Cole Freight has placed smaller sections of the mill at a container yard on the mainland, while the heaviest parts such as kilns, ovens and evaporators were hauled from Squamish to Nanaimo this spring."So far there's been seven barge loads of the equipment," said Peterson. "It's been dismantled in such a fashion that it can be reassembled."Some pieces of equipment are over 15 metres long and weigh more than 60 tonnes."They are very, very heavy," Peterson said.The mill's former owner Western Forest Products (WFP) tried to sell the mill on its site but no expressions of interest were received. Although no price is stated, the 86-hectare piece of property is now for sale with real estate company Colliers International. WFP staff have said the land could fit a number of uses from a run-of-river power project, an incineration plant or residential.The District of Squamish has no control over the sale, but Mayor Ian Sutherland said he would like to see the site used to create jobs. As an industrial site, the next business could help replace the tax base lost from Woodfibre, which once provided 18 per cent of the District of Squamish's tax revenue.The site is being marketed in part for its hydroelectric capabilities through a Woodfibre flyer by Colliers."The Woodfibre mill has historically generated its own power through the use of a small hydroelectric power generation plant," it states."Considering the close proximity of provincial hydro transmission lines, this represents an excellent opportunity to update an existing run-of-the-river facility."The facility currently generates between 1.2 and 1.6 megawatts. The pamphlet suggests this amount could potentially be increased.
