Verso Paper announced Monday that it will sell its Bucksport mill to a subsidiary of a Montreal-based company that focuses on “scrap metal recuperation.”
The Bangor Daily News reported that Verso reached an agreement on Friday to sell the mill to the subsidiary of American Iron and Metal for about $60 million. The newspaper said the sale announcement has left Maine papermakers feeling uneasy about the mill’s future.
AIM describes itself on its website as “one of the most innovative recycling companies in the world,” with a focus on recycling metal. A subsidiary of the company last year purchased a mill from Verso in Sartell, Minn., and subsequently demolished and redeveloped the site.
Verso shut down its Bucksport papermaking machines earlier this month. Most of the mill’s 570 employees are expected to lose their jobs when the mill closes by the end of the month.
Bill Cohen, Verso’s spokesman in Bucksport, told the BDN that AIM plans to continue operating the mill’s natural gas-powered electrical generation plant. The newspaper noted that around 50 to 60 employees have stayed on to work at the plant.
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