Tolko Reports “Good Progress” on Its High Prairie, Alberta, OSB Mill, but No Restart Date Set

On Sunday, High Prairie, Alberta’s South Peace News reported that Tolko Industries has not yet set a date for the reopening of its High Prairie OSB mill that was destroyed by a fire on May 20th, 2022.

However, “Tolko’s High Prairie team continues to make excellent progress on the rebuilding project at the mill, and we hope to share more information soon about restarting production,” Chris Downey, Tolko’s communication advisor, said in an email to South Peace News on January 4th. Damage to the press and press building was significant, and much of the equipment was a total loss, Downey added.

South Peace News noted that in a June 14th, 2023, story Downey said, “Work on assembling a new continuous press is progressing well and the mill is aiming to be up and running by the end of the year.” However, the massive job of rebuilding is taking more time.

“The construction at the site has included new concrete foundations and expanding the building size to accommodate the longer press,” Downey also said last June. “Along with the repairs, other projects and maintenance work include updates to the mill’s painting and wrapping area (which will use innovative robotic systems), and the installation of equipment that was repurposed from Tolko’s decommissioned Kelowna mill.”