On April 24, we proudly celebrated the official inauguration of our new C$27 million cellulose filament plant located at our Kénogami paper mill in Saguenay, Quebec.
Derived from wood fiber, cellulose filaments are a novel, 100% natural biomaterial additive for products like concrete, plastics and coatings to improve their technical performance and environmental footprint.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Andrée Laforest, Quebec Minister of Municipal Affairs and Minister Responsible for the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region, as well as by local elected officials, dignitaries and company employees.
Resolute Vice President of Innovation and Energy Procurement Alain Bourdages recognized the support of our key partners and the commitment of the Kénogami team to making the project a success. He also emphasized the importance of developing this type of product as a means of making the most of the incredible resource that is the Quebec forest.
FPInnovations, an organization that specializes in the creation of solutions that accelerate the growth of the Canadian forest sector, led the partnership that developed the extraction technology to produce cellulose filaments. Performance BioFilaments Inc., a joint venture established by Resolute and Mercer International Inc., is working to commercialize nontraditional applications for the product.
Testing has already been conducted with companies in the concrete industry, where cellulose filaments could provide clear advantages in infrastructure projects, and with companies in the packaging industry, where translucent films produced using cellulose filaments are an easily recyclable alternative to traditional plastic films.
As production ramps up, we will focus on bringing commercial volumes of the biomaterial to the marketplace. We expect to produce 21 metric tons of cellulose filaments per day and to create about 30 new jobs, in addition to the approximately 200 existing jobs at the Kénogami paper mill.
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