Dusting Off PrOFitS Pellet manufacturing creates an integrated value-added outlet for this unique Quebec lumber manufacturer. By Myriam Gauthier timing is everything, then launching a pellet complex at the height of the forestry crisis may have been a mistake. Yet four years later, lumber manufacturer Boisaco’s pellet plant continues operations. Since 2009, this sawmill in Sacré-Coeur, Quebec, in the North Shore region, has run its Granulco pellet division (granules is the French word for pellet). Faced with record low lumber pricing, the company has gone through tough times, but its leaders have never ceased to believe that the full use of byproducts from wood remains a promising market. “Not so long ago, 10 to 15 years, sawdust from mills around here was buried as waste,” says Boisaco president Steeve St-Gelais. “Now, it is a commodity that can create jobs and a profitable business. “ Some of the mill shavings and chips were already used by sister companies Ripco and Sacopan, for the manufacture of equestrian bedding and embossed door panels. These remanufacturers were launched on the Boisaco industrial site in the early 2000s as an indication of the company’s intention of making full use of its fibre resource to maximize revenue and employment. The company has annual revenues of more than $60 million. It was that spirit that saw Granulco added to the complex in December 2009, providing a local outlet for sawdust from the 110-million-board-foot sawmill. Granulco has an annual produc-tion capacity of 20,000 to 40,000 tonnes aimed at the domestic and commercial pellet stove market as well as equestrian bedding. According to Granulco president Bastien Deschênes, producing value-added products is now a matter of survival for Quebec’s forest sector: “It is no longer a choice, it is an obligation,” he says. “The forestry crisis has been very difficult for the North Shore region: only four of the original 12 lumber producers have survived. I am convinced that Boisaco would not have passed through the crisis if it had not already diversified its operations.” CO-OPERATIVE VALUES if Granulco was formed by six original investors: The Essipit Innu First Nation, the Sacré-Coeur investment company Investra, the Photos: Granulco LEFT MAIN: The Granulco pellet plant was added to the Boisaco industrial site in December 2009 to provide an outlet for the mill’s sawdust and employment for 13. INSET: The pellets are made from almost 100% softwood sawdust (black spruce, fir, pine). Canadian BIOMASS 13
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