Pinnacle Renewable Energy has started initial pellet production at its newly-constructed facility in High Level, Alberta, which is owned 50% by Pinnacle and 50% by Tolko Industries Ltd. through a limited partnership, the company announced.
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 tons 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, BC, in 2015," stated Duncan Davies, CEO of Pinnacle. "The commissioning of this mill along with our project at Demopolis, Alabama which is scheduled for completion in Q2 2021, will increase Pinnacle's overall production capacity by almost 25% to 2.8 million metric tons per annum and increase the portion located in jurisdictions outside of B.C. to approximately 44%."
Pinnacle is gradually ramping up production at the High Level Mill and expects to reach full run-rate production in 2021.
