Pinnacle, Tolko commence production at new High Level mill

Pinnacle Renewable Energy today announced it has commenced initial pellet production at its newly-constructed facility in High Level, Alta., which is owned 50 per cent by Pinnacle and 50 per cent by Tolko Industries Ltd. through a limited partnership.

The High Level mill further diversifies Pinnacle’s supply base using high-quality wood fibre sourced primarily from Tolko’s sawmill in High Level. The mill has a projected run-rate capacity of 200,000 metric tonnes per year. Production will be sold through Pinnacle’s contracted backlog of long-term, take-or-pay off-take contracts.

“We are pleased to have achieved this milestone at High Level. The mill has exceeded expectations through its first two weeks of operations, largely due to the effective collaboration between our capital projects and operations groups as well as the strong working relationship with Tolko that has existed since our first joint investment at Lavington, B.C., in 2015,” stated Duncan Davies, CEO of Pinnacle. “The commissioning of this mill, along with our project at Demopolis, Ala., which is scheduled for completion in Q2 2021, will increase Pinnacle’s overall production capacity by almost 25 per cent to 2.8 million metric tons per annum and increase the portion located in jurisdictions outside of B.C. to approximately 44 per cent.”

“We’re proud to see the start of pellet production at High Level and we’re thankful to have such a solid partnership with Pinnacle Renewable Energy,” said Brad Thorlakson, president and CEO of Tolko. “The facility brings economic and employment benefits to our companies and the community, and by using green energy from biomass in the manufacturing process, there are environmental benefits as well that help reduce our carbon footprint.”

Pinnacle is gradually ramping up production at the mill and expects to reach full run-rate production in 2021.