Company News

Well, it finally happened: Georgia-Pacific bought Great Northern Nekoosa, thus forming the biggest paper company in the U.S. Nekoosa has one alkaline mill in Nekoosa, WI, and two in the process of converting; it is a subsidiary of Great Northern Nekoosa. Georgia Pacific has six fine paper mills, of which the largest (Port Hudson, LA, 1400 tpd) will convert to alkaline before too long. It is hard to say at this stage whether the acquisition and the fallout from it will affect these conversion plans.
Ground was broken January 22 for a Pfizer onsite precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) plant at the Weyerhaeuser mill in Plymouth, NC. The satellite unit, to be built, owned and operated by Pfizer, is expected to be delivering product by August. The Plymouth mill will be the last of Weyerhaeuser's three fine paper mills to convert. The other two are already alkaline: Longview, WA and Rothschild, WI.
Performance Papers, formerly Allied Paper, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, shut down the mill November 9 and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in late November. The mill is up for sale again.