The long-dormant equipment at the McKinley Paper Co. mill in Port Angeles, Washington, is being dismantled in preparation for $6.1 million in improvements and a plant reopening by Dec. 31, according to local news reports. The factory has been closed since April 2017.
The plan is to retool the plant to run two paper machines to manufacture containerboard and heavyweight bag-grades. The city of Port Angeles approved an industrial-remodel building permit for the project in August so a kraft paper pulper and related pulp processing equipment can be installed.
McKinley Paper, a subsidiary of Mexico-based Bio Pappel, purchased the plant from Japanese-owned Nippon Paper Industries USA in 2017 for $20.6 million. In addition to the paper mill in Port Angeles, McKinley also operates a mill in Prewitt, New Mexico. In July 2019 the company acquired U.S. Corrugated Inc.
