Hunt Forest Products and Tolko Industries Announce a Joint Venture to Build a New State-of-the Art Sawmill in Bienville, Louisiana

Hunt Forest Products and Tolko Industries today (7-26-21) announced that they intended to build a $240 million, state-of-the-art sawmill in Bienville Parish near Taylor, Louisiana. The new sawmill project is a joint venture between Hunt Forest Products and Tolko. Tolko, based in Vernon, British Columbia, partnered with Hunt Forest Products to build a modern sawmill in Urania, LA, that began operations in 2018. Tolko will own a 50 percent share, and the mill will be managed and operated by Hunt on a day-to-day basis. Construction is expected to start in early 2022, and the new facility will employ 60 people when operations being in the first half of 2023. When fully operational the sawmill will employ approximately 130 people.

James D. Hunt, co-owner and vice chairman of the Board of Directors of Hunt Forest Products said, “We are excited to be bringing our second high-tech sawmill, and the skilled jobs it will provide, to Louisiana, and to provide a local outlet for the massive inventory of southern yellow pine that exists in this state.” Hunt went onto say that the mill will prioritize buying timber locally, and it is estimated that the mill will require approximately 1.3 million tons of wood annually to produce approximately 320 million board feet of lumber annually. Brad Thorlakson, Tolko president and CEO said, “…we are looking forward to working with the Hunt family again to bring another state-of-the-art sawmill, and jobs, to Louisiana.” The facility will be located on approximately 255 acres of land including the existing Taylor sawmill site and some adjacent timber land.