A new sawmill and the purchase of an Alberta lumber remanufacturing company are part of the expansion plans of Brink Forest Products in Prince George. Earlier this month Brink announced it has purchased Palliser Lumber Sales Ltd. in Crossfield, Alberta, just outside Calgary. The purchase nearly doubles Brink's size, creating a company with nearly 500 employees and production capacity of lumber products of 500 million board feet a year.

The purchase of Palliser reflects the overall trend to consolidation in the BC forest industry to achieve economies of scale as well as synergies between companies. It helps boost Brink's purchasing power of raw materials, which includes low-grade lumber and trim ends from sawmills.

The combination of the two companies is not expected to result in any job losses, as the idea is to grow the companies. Palliser will continue to operate under its name as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brink.

Also in the works is a sawmill, being built on 40 hectares of land at the BCR Industrial Site, expected to be operational in February of 2006. The new sawmill is intended to supply Brink's existing secondary manufacturing plants and secure the supply of raw materials.

The mill will include two lumber cutting lines - one for large logs and another for smaller logs. It will produce about 150 million board feet a year on two shifts and create 100 jobs.

For wood supply, Brink is hoping to access the increases in timber made available as a result of the mountain pine beetle epidemic.

At the end of 2003, the company announced it had bought Pleasant Valley Remanufacturing, located in Houston, which produces wood blocks that are the feed material for finger-jointing. In 2004, Brink added a pair of finger-joint manufacturing lines at his operations in Prince George.