West Fraser – 100 Mile Lumber will be closing its doors by the end of 2025.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Nov. 6, West Fraser Timber Company announced that it will be permanently closing both its 100 Mile House lumber mill and its Augusta, Georgia lumber mill following an orderly wind-down over the next two months. In its release, West Fraser cited timber supply challenges and current soft lumber markets as reasons behind these decisions.<\/p>\n
“The 100 Mile House lumber mill is no longer able to reliably access an adequate volume of economically viable timber. Challenging softwood lumber demand, higher duties and additional tariffs have compounded this situation,” West Fraser stated. “The mill closure will impact approximately 165 employees at the site and reduce West Fraser’s capacity by 160 million board feet.”<\/p>\n
West Fraser said it plans to “mitigate the impact” on affected employees by providing work opportunities at other company operations, where available. In the Cariboo, the closest West Fraser Sawmill is located an hour north in Williams Lake.<\/p>\n
This news comes six years after West Fraser shuttered its Chasm Sawmill between 70 Mile House and Clinton, and five years almost to the day since Norbord announced the permanent closure of its sawmill in 100 Mile House. West Fraser – 100 Mile Lumber was the last major mill left standing in the area.<\/p>\n
“The closure of these mills better positions West Fraser to compete in this challenging environment,” West Fraser said. “The Company expects to record restructuring and impairment charges in the fourth quarter of 2025 associated with this announcement and the factors outlined herein.”<\/p>\n
District of 100 Mile House Mayor Maureen Pinkney said that the closure is very unfortunate for all the local workers who work for West Fraser. Pinkney estimated the closure will impact a further 500 jobs when looking at the whole picture.<\/p>\n
“When you lose those good-paying jobs, it affects everything,” Pinkney said. “There’s no good time of the year for this to happen, but just before Christmas is even harder. Our retail stores rely on this expanded business period of Christmas to weather the storm for January, February and March. They’re not going to have that cushion.”<\/p>\n
Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Lorne Doerkson agreed with Pinkney that this closure will impact far more than 165 individuals. He described the news as devastating and called it a “dark day” for the economy of the South Cariboo.<\/p>\n
“West Fraser has been operating that mill for a number of years, and to find out abruptly, a month and a half away from Christmas, that the mill is going to be closed permanently is devastating, it really is devastating,” Doerkson remarked. “I know the industry is struggling, and I know the tariffs have been devastating, no question about that. There are a lot of challenges this industry has been facing, from the loss of timber through forest fire, to the pine beetle (infestation). We’ve got what I call a permanent crisis in this province. I think this has all had a cumulative effect and we’re seeing it today in 100 Mile House.”<\/p>\n
Doerkson said that his understanding is that 100 Mile Lumber will continue to mill the remaining logs it has and close down once it is all milled. He added that he’s been told it’s likely the closure will occur in December once timber runs out.<\/p>\n
Long term, Pinkney said that this closure will impact the tax assessment of the area. She noted they saw a similar decrease in assessment after the Ainsworth OSB plant shut down. Every loss means less and less infrastructure for 100 Mile House going forward.<\/p>\n
Pinkney expressed frustration with the management of the forestry sector by the B.C. provincial government over the last several years. She noted that since 2017, there have been dozens of mill closures across the province.<\/p>\n
“This is a renewable resource that never should have been managed this way, but when is it going to stop?” Pinkney asked. “I believe (the provincial government) has mismanaged the way the allowable cuts are, the way licenses are. There have been so many things wrong for so long.”<\/p>\n
While Pinkney acknowledged that the new Minister of Forests, Ravi Parmar, is proactive and seems to have some great new ideas, it ended up being too little too late for 100 Mile House. She said this closure represents the end of an era for 100 Mile House.<\/p>\n
“This town was built on forestry. We were a lumber company. Back in the day, there were small mills out in the bush when they used to go to the trees, and then they started bringing the trees to the mill,” Pinkney remarked. “We were 100 per cent a forest town, but we are no longer a forest town. That is huge, it’s been there since the beginning of our community.”<\/p>\n
Going forward, Pinkney said she and her council will continue to try to bring new industries to 100 Mile House to help bring more jobs to the community.<\/p>\n
For his part, Doerkson also pledged to do what he can to support those losing their jobs transition into the future. He noted he’s already had conversations with West Fraser about supporting their employees and Parmar about potential government support. Doerkson said he doesn’t know what that will look like exactly, but plans to share more with the community when he does.<\/p>\n
“I do know they’re going to involve the Minister of Jobs in this,” Doerkson said. “I think it’s probably too early to know what those next steps will look like, but I also think it’s wrong to suggest there are just 165 people affected by this. This is going to be a devastating blow to the economy of the entire South Cariboo.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The closure is expected to take place by the end of 2025 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":159549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-regional-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n