Whether the Babine Forest Products sawmill will be rebuilt remains uncertain.
Securing enough timber to make the venture viable will take some shuffling, provincial Jobs Minister Pat Bell cautioned Friday during an update on the campaign to soften the blow Burns Lake has suffered with the loss of the community's main employer.
Bell, the MLA for Prince George-Mackenzie, said there is not enough within the immediate Lakes District timber supply area to support dimension-lumber sawmill's revival and officials are now looking to areas as far away as Prince George, Houston, Fort St. James and Vanderhoof.
Owned by Oregon-based Hampton Affiliates, Babine employed 250 workers prior to the Jan. 20 explosion and fire that destroyed most of the facility, killed two employees and left another 19 people injured, some with major burns.
"I think it's unlikely you would see fibre travelling from Prince George," Bell said when asked what will happen if enough fibre is found elsewhere. "What you would do is bump licensees over who have operating areas closer to the Hampton region; you'd move them into areas closer to their operating areas to avoid trucks passing each other on the highway."
The provincial government has committed to ensuring no licensee will be worse off, Bell added.
"That's important, because we know fibre supply is constrained throughout the Highway 16 corridor as a result of the mountain pine beetle and people wanted to know that one mill was not going to reopen in the event that others would have to end up closing as a result," Bell said.
A sawmill of Babine's scale would require about one million cubic metres annually.
"That normally wouldn't be held all under tenure," Bell said. "Some of it would be acquired through market purchases."
More than 130 workers have found new jobs, many at other forestry or mining operations in the region, and the government is hoping to find employment for the rest in the months ahead.
More in-depth discussions with licensees and the six area first nations will be held in the coming weeks. Home to about 3,600 people, Burns Lake is 226 kilometres west of Prince George.
