Duane Hicks
After stopping paper production Tuesday morning due to a problem identified at the company’s effluent treatment system at the lagoon in the north end of town, the AbitibiBowater mill was back in operation Friday night.
“We found a solution for the situation at our operation in Fort Frances, and we’re now proceeding with the recovery plan that entails the re-start of our operations as early as tonight,” Jean-Philippe Cote, director of public affairs and government relations with AbitibiBowater, said Friday afternoon from Montreal.
Cote was not able to elaborate on what the solution to the problem was since he did not have the technical details at the time.
Mill manager John Harrison likewise didn’t say this morning what the exact problem was or how it was fixed, but did say an investigation into the matter is ongoing.
“As soon as I’ve got a definitive answer, I’ll share it,” he noted.
News broke Tuesday morning that tests showed the mill’s effluent treatment system exceeded its daily biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) limit, and consequently the company had to shut down operations until the problem could be addressed.
But Cote said the situation had a “minimal impact” on operations.
He noted mill workers, who had kept working in preparation for the shutdown, now were working to get everything up and running again and so did not have to lose any shifts.
