The Espanola Pulp and Paper Mill site in Ontario, Canada. The mill, which was owned by Domtar, was closed in November 2023 and purchased by BMI Group in October 2025.
Sept. 7, 2026 - Bioveld North Inc., a subsidiary of the Canadian-owned BMI Group, on Sept. 3 welcomed a $5.1-million investment from the Government of Ontario that advances its plans to restart the Espanola pulp mill, idled since 2023. Delivered through the Biomass Pathways Stream and Innovative Bioproduct Manufacturing and Modernization Stream of Ontario's Forest Biomass Program, the funding supports the front-end loading engineering and design (FEL) that will finalize the design and cost of the restart. Bioveld North is contributing $5.4 million to the $10.5-million engineering program.
The company said the investment is an important step toward its goal of returning the mill to production and re-establishing Espanola as an anchor of the regional forestry economy. Bioveld North's investors, including Dutch firm Business EQ Investments, are proud to support the next generation of forestry innovation in Canada. Bioveld North is not yet setting a timeline and will have more to say as the engineering advances and the remaining pieces come together.
"This mill was never torn down or left to rot — it was kept warm, waiting," said Paul Veldman, CEO, The BMI Group. "Too much was left here for us not to look at it closely and meticulously, and Ontario's investment makes that possible. Our whole business is built on a simple idea: put wood back to work. Through our Pulp+ approach, we see Espanola capturing the full value of one of the richest forest regions in the country: premium pulp and specialty papers first, then biocarbon, renewable fuels and clean power."
For more than a century, the Espanola mill was an economic cornerstone of Northern Ontario. Its idling in 2023 cut roughly 400 direct jobs and disrupted a regional supply chain that historically supported an estimated 2,000 additional jobs across 19 Ontario sawmills, six of which relied on Espanola for approximately 75 percent of their wood-chip sales. With no domestic outlet, several sawmills have been idled, and most remaining residual fibre is now shipped out of province, weakening Ontario's forestry value chain at a time of mounting trade pressure.
The feasibility study for the restart explores returning the mill to approximately 800 air-dried metric tonnes per day of premium talc-free Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft (NBSK) pulp and about 180 short tonnes per day of paper for medical and food grades, with capacity to expand over time. It is the first phase of Pulp+, Bioveld North's plan to develop the site into an integrated forest bioproducts hub, adding biocarbon, renewable fuels and clean power through phased private investment.
Bioveld North acquired the former Domtar site in late 2025. Restoring domestic production of specialty pulp grades that Canada now imports would strengthen supply chain security amid sustained tariff pressure on Canada's forest products and would demonstrate a Canadian-owned company rebuilding capacity that multinationals left behind. A successful restart will require substantial private and customer investment alongside government support.
In the months ahead, the company will work closely with mill workers, the sawmills that depend on the site, the Town of Espanola and local First Nations to build the foundation for a successful restart. Bioveld North said this groundwork, with the community and its partners, is its immediate priority.
Bioveld North Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of The BMI Group, a Canadian development and investment firm that specializes in acquiring and revitalizing strategic industrial assets.
SOURCE: BMI Group