In Canada, Pinnacle Renewable Holdings Inc. (Pinnacle), the world's second largest wood pellet producer has begun initial pellet production at its new production facility in Smithers, British Columbia (BC). The new 125 000 tonne-per-annum capacity plant is owned 70 percent by Pinnacle and 30 percent by West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (West Fraser) through a limited partnership.
With construction now nearing completion, we are pleased to report successful initial production runs at this new facility. We expect commissioning of the facility to be straightforward, due to its simple design and a fibre plan that consists mostly of clean, easily processed sawdust and shavings, supplied primarily by our partner West Fraser, said Rob McCurdy, CEO of Pinnacle.
According to a statement November 27, the Smithers facility is connected by a direct rail link to Pinnacle’s nearby Westview Port Terminal in Prince Rupert. Fibre supply for the Facility and customer off-take agreements for its annual production both have been secured under long-term contracts. Pinnacle is now gradually ramping up production at the plant and expects to reach full run-rate production of 125 000 tonnes-per-annum in the third quarter of Fiscal 2019.
When our new Entwistle, Aliceville and Smithers production facilities reach full run-rate production next year, we’ll have added approximately 795 000 metric tons of annual production capacity through growth initiatives we commenced in 2018, representing an increase of more than 50 percent. Looking ahead, we will remain focused on advancing additional growth projects to meet the production demand from our large and growing contract backlog, said McCurdy.
