Chastin Martel
Lakeside Leader
Slave Lake Pulp is a mill located 23 km east of Slave Lake in Mitsue. Readers might want to know what happens there, and what better way to know from Shawn Vollicks and Brian McConkey.
Vollicks is the General Manager of Slave Lake Pulp. McConkey is the Vice President of Human Resources and Affairs for the Edmonton corporate office of Millar Western, which operates the mill on behalf of the ownership group.
The process begins with a deciduous tree being brought to the mill, says Vollicks. It is then converted into chip form. The chips are pushed into the mill with a loader, where they are processed into pulp.
The chips start their journey through the process at the refiner deck, which is where two surfaces grind the chips and break them down.
The resulting pulp is a brown or tan colour. To get rid of the brown colour, it is brought through a bleaching process. This is where the pulp is brightened.
Once brightened enough, the pulp is screened, cleaned, and it goes through a dryer. This is where it is dried for shipping and handling. The finished product is a dense packed object, says Vollicks.
The packaged pulp leaves the mill predominantly on rail cars, but trucking is also an option.
Asked who are the customers for the pulp product, McConkey says Slave Lake Pulp sells mostly to Asian countries, where it’s turned into paper products.
“We have multiple countries, multiple customers. We don’t really have just one singular one”, he says.
A project known as bio-methane converts waste into power for the mill. It was put into the mill a number of years ago says, Vollicks. It is still in full function and going well.
“Pretty significant investment back to the facility (Slave Lake Pulp),” says Vollicks.
If you’re looking to apply to work at Slave Lake Pulp, advertising for various positions can be found online. McConkey advises that they are not always looking for people but applying is still encouraged.
“There’s consideration for local (workers),” he says, “ but it’s a highly technical industry as well, so there’s certain skill sets that we may not be able to find in the community.”
When it comes to the most joyful part for working for Slave Lake Pulp, Vollicks likes being part of a team.
“Everybody comes here, they’re engaged. Everyone knows what we’re trying to do here, and they’re all engaged in the same direction. We’re all rowing in the same direction,” he says.
“This particular division has an excellent reputation in terms of people and with the commitment and quality of the workforce,” says McConkey.
