Grant Forest Expects to Open Second Oriented Strand Board Mill in South Carolina in 4Q07

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). Privately held Grant Forest Products Incorporated (Earlton, Ontario) is well on track to complete its second Oriented Strand Board (OSB) mill in South Carolina before the end of this year. The first one, operated under Grant Allendale Incorporated (Fairfax, South Carolina) became operational only last fall and is located in Fairfax, Allendale County. The second mill, which broke ground last year, located on 8250 Sumter Highway in Alcolu in Clarendon County, is scheduled to be running by November 2007. The company, which envisions employing an estimated 120 workers, has started with the hiring process.

The Alcolu OSB mill has an estimated cost of $200 million; a similar amount the company invested at the Fairfax plant located only 60 miles away. As with the first mill, both UMA Engineering (Vancouver, British Columbia) and Wabi America, Incorporated (Saltillo, Mississippi) are involved in the design and construction of the plant. Both projects were researched and reported by Industrial Info Resources: See related article dated October 11, 2005 - Grant Forest Breaks Ground on OSB Mill in South Carolina.

Grant Forest Products is the leading Canadian manufacturer of OSB. The company manufactures OSB in panels of varying lengths and thickness, as well as specialty products such as web stock, rim board, and oversized panels, among others. Manufacturing operations are located throughout Ontario, Alberta and most recently, South Carolina.

Industrial Info Resources is currently tracking over $1.8 billion in capital expenditures related to oriented strand board projects in the U.S. and Canada. Project expenditures in the U.S account for 40% of all spending, worth approximately $743 million, while Canadian expenditures total $1.1 billion.

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