Resolute extends shutdown on Niagara Region newsprint plant, may convert operation

MONTREAL – Resolute Forest Products says that its Thorold newsprint manufacturing plant in southern Ontario will remain idle indefinitely — extending a shutdown that began late last year.

The plant had employed more than 100 workers who turned recovered paper into newsprint prior to ceasing operations in mid-December.

The Montreal-based company says the Thorold operation — southeast of St. Catharines and northwest of Niagara Falls, Ont. — may be converted to make different products with a more sustainable future.

Thorold’s shutdown followed the closure of a newsprint machine at its Augusta mill in the U.S. state of Georgia last May.

The company announced Feb. 2 that had written down the value of its recycled newsprint assets by $27 million in the fourth quarter — contributing to a $45-million net loss for the three months ended Dec. 31.

Resolute said Friday that it’s working with Stone House Investments Holdings, an independent third party interested in converting Thorold to production of an alternative product.