Dunkley Lumber Company to Expand Production at Carrot River, Saskatchewan Sawmill

Dunkley Lumber Company, a privately owned Canadian forestry company with three sawmills in western Canada, has announced a $100 million (C$) expansion at their Carrot River, Saskatchewan sawmill facility. The expansion is expected to create 240 new direct and indirect jobs through growth in lumber sales and exports.

On Friday, September 10, 2021, the Saskatchewan provincial government announced that they had approved timber allocations to support the proposed expansion. While the province is allocating some of the additional timber required for the project, the majority of the timber will be secured by the company through commercial agreements negotiated with Indigenous timber allocation holders and private landowners.

According to Rob Novak, president of Dunkley Lumber, the sawmill will add a second saw line and increase production over five phases of development by the fall of 2023. When complete, the expansion is planned to increase lumber production capacity by 75%, from the current 130 million board feet of lumber annually to 230 million board feet, which will require approximately 821,000 m3 of softwood timber.