Project advances U.S. company Ponderay Industries is moving forward with its plans to restart the producer’s paper mill in Usk, in the country’s state of Washington.
Ponderay Industries has announced in a statement it is in advanced negotiations with undisclosed key industry partners to relaunch its manufacturing activities.
“Idled since bankruptcy in 2020, the paper mill has been meticulously maintained and preserved by a team of former mill employees. Irvine, California-based Allrise Capital, parent company of Ponderay Industries, purchased the paper mill at a bankruptcy auction in 2021. The site is also home to a Merkle Standard digital asset mining data center that shares the industrial campus with Ponderay Industries,” according to the company.
Prior to the firm’s bankruptcy, the paper mill provided direct employment to more than 150 persons.
“Ponderay Industries expects to return to a similar staffing level of about 150 employees to support mill operations,” the statement said.