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Value-added mill expands

The Sechelt Indian Band is expanding its value-added mill both in size and in products.

The Sechelt Indian Band is expanding its value-added mill both in size and in products.

Tsain-ko Forest Products, beside the Construction Aggregates gravel mine site, will be developing its site and opening a retail store likely in early April, according to manager Marc Neufeld. The value-added mill currently makes cedar fence panels and gates and will expand its product line to anything for outside your house, Neufeld said, such as sheds, decking, lattice sheets, gazebos and siding. The operation also sells lumber.

The Band council is in budget discussions and Chief Stan Dixon said it is in a deficit. So the Band has decided to expand the value-added mill to get out of the deficit in the long run, he said.

Tsain-ko currently employs nine people. Neufeld expects 12 to 14 people to be working there by this summer, depending on the success of its retail operation.

The mill buys ungraded lumber to maximize the number of employees and to lower costs, Neufeld explained. It buys its lumber mainly from Delta Cedar or from wherever it can get the best deal and be cost effective. Tsain-ko buys 30,000 board measure - a unit measurement in board feet -per month on average, he said.

Employees cut and grade the wood then assemble and secure the panels. On an average day, the mill produces 40 fence panels, 20 to 40 gates and 50 lattice sheets, according to Neufeld.

The finished products are shipped wholesale to Delta Cedar and other forestry companies and are also sold on the retail market. The value-added mill began operations in 2003. Production supervisor Frank Dixon said the expansion plans are "fantastic."

"It's putting a lot of people to work amongst our community," he said.