Interfor plans to recall one shift at its Grand Forks operating starting next Wednesday, according to mayor Everett Baker.
Baker said the company called him today to let him know.
“[It’s] not perfect but a start,” he said in a text message. “I have been asking for at least one shift.”
Baker said 68 employees are expected to be back on the job next week.
The mill has been idle since September. Interfor initially said it would take several weeks of downtime in the face of economic uncertainty, but that shutdown later became “indefinite.”
Baker travelled to Ottawa last month to help company officials press the federal government for a US softwood deal, and to seek relief for idled workers.
Softwood duties and tariffs add about 45 per cent to the cost of exporting lumber of the United States.
On Thursday, Interfor announced a third-quarter net loss of $216 million. The company says about 60 per cent of its lumber is produced and sold within the US, while about 25 per cent is exported from Canada to the US.
