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Verso to Sell Bucksport Mill to Metal Recycler

Charles Beck
/
MPBN

Verso Paper Corp. has reached an agreement to sell its Bucksport paper mill and power plant to a Canadian scrap metal recycling company for $60 million in cash.

The Portland Press Herald reports that Verso signed an agreement with American Iron and Metal Development on Friday, a day after the last paper machine at the 84-year-old mill shut down.

Verso announced two months ago that it was closing the Bucksport mill, putting about 500 workers out of a job.

The sale of the mill to the Montreal-based company raises questions about its future, says Bucksport Town Manager Derick Goodine. Goodine says the sale price for the mill was low.

"You can speculate why that is," he says, "It's probably because there's a lot of money in the resale value of the steel, and it also knocks that mill out of competition, if you will, to make paper - the same paper that Verso makes elsewhere."

Goodine says he hopes that the new owners will continue to run the power plant associated with the mill - or at least maintain it as an asset to sell.  Currently, about three-quarters of the energy the plant generates is sold into the state's power grid, while the other quarter has been used to power the mill.

The sale of the Bucksport facility is expected to become final in January.