Ontario is providing C$5.1 million to Bioveld North for engineering and evaluation work toward a potential restart and modernization of the idled Espanola Pulp and Paper Mill.
The funding will support the development of a restart plan and identify upgrades that could improve the mill’s efficiency, reliability and competitiveness. It will also be used to examine opportunities to diversify the facility beyond pulp and paper production into renewable fuels and other bioproducts.
The investment represents an early stage in the proposed redevelopment and does not confirm that the mill will restart. Bioveld North will use the work to assess the project’s viability, define the technical requirements for a broader modernization and support efforts to attract private capital.
According to the province, a successful restart could create as many as 400 direct jobs and 2,000 indirect jobs while restoring demand for up to 1.8 million cubic metres of sustainably sourced wood annually. The project could also generate opportunities for harvesting contractors, trucking companies, Indigenous businesses and regional service providers.
Bioveld North, a Canadian-owned subsidiary of BMI Group, acquired the former Domtar mill in 2025 with the objective of restarting and transforming the site into an anchor for a regional bioeconomy.
BMI Group CEO Paul Veldman said the engineering work will help determine whether the mill can be brought back into operation. The company envisions a diversified facility capable of producing pulp and paper as well as biofuels, biochar and other low-carbon products.
Ontario said anchor mills are important to the wider forest products supply chain because they provide markets for wood fibre and support sawmills, contractors and related businesses across a region.
Kevin Holland, Ontario’s associate minister of forestry and forest products, said the investment is intended to restore an important regional economic asset while opening new markets for the province’s forest sector.
The funding is being provided through Ontario’s Forest Biomass Program, which invests up to C$20 million annually in projects designed to increase the use of forest biomass and develop new applications for wood.
Since its launch in 2023, the program has committed more than C$70 million to 68 projects. The province says those investments have attracted nearly C$260 million in additional funding and created more than 110 jobs.
The Espanola project also forms part of Ontario’s Roadmap to Protecting Ontario’s Forest Sector, a 10-year strategy focused on trade pressures, market diversification and next-generation forest products.
Ontario’s forest sector generates close to C$21 billion in annual business revenue and supports approximately 155,000 jobs, according to the provincial government.
