After a two-week shutdown to investigate the source of a methane gas leak, Lakeland Mills pwill restart its planer mill and the district energy system on Tuesday.
Already reeling from the April sawmill explosion and fire which killed two mill workers and left 23 others injured, Lakeland shut down its planer operations last Friday as a precaution when a test hole found unacceptably high levels of methane at the northeast corner of the mill site.
"Suspending operations in the interests of the safety and well-being of our employees was the right thing to do," said Greg Stewart, president of Sinclar Group, which owns Lakeland Mills.
Additional soil testing and air sampling after the closure revealed no unsafe gases and Prince George Fire and Rescue officials determined there were no safety concerns.
"We're confident that the safety of our employees is not at risk and we feel it's appropriate to get back to work," said Stewart. "The monitoring we've been doing since last week has found no significant readings of explosive gases, and both WorkSafeBC and the Prince George Fire Department have confirmed our findings."
Soil and air testing will continue, and Lakeland will be monitoring the mill site for any subsequent methane leaks as work resumes Tuesday. The 28 planer mill employees will be working one daily shift until the three-week supply of timber runs out. At the time the downtown sawmill exploded April 23, the planer mill was operating at all hours of the day and employed three shifts.
The Lakeland Fire Assistance Fund has now grown to more than $400,000. Sinclar Group spokesperson Cam McAlpine was unable to provide details on how many Lakeland employees have applied for support from the donor-generated fund.
"Because it is administered through the Prince George Community Foundation we don't have any idea how the funds will be distributed, Sinclar Group and Lakeland Mills don't have any of those details," said McAlpine. "That was done intentionally so there wouldn't be any perception of bias or interference from the company."
Officials from the Community Foundation could not be reached Friday for comment.
