A three-way partnership is being explored between Nazko, Pinnacle Pellet Inc. and Pioneer Family Timber.

A letter of intent was signed between the three Nov. 7 to look at the feasibility of opening a pellet plant on main reserve land, section IR20.

Wednesday, Nazko hosted an information session to explain plans, answer questions and introduce their new partners to Nazko members.

“The Elders I’ve spoken to so far are really happy with this partnership,” grand council rep Doreen Patrick said.

“This is a good opportunity for our young people. It’s been a long time coming. This proposal could get them back on the job and help them be proud of who they are.”

Pinnacle Pellet Inc. produces a variety of products carrying their brand name, including premium softwood pellet fuel and pine animal bedding pellets.

They also produce custom products for companies in their packaging. A large portion of production is for bulk domestic and overseas market.

Their plants produce and sell more than 700,000 tonnes of product annually from their various locations in Quesnel, Williams Lake, Houston, B.C. (a joint venture with Canada’s largest lumber company, Canfor) and Armstrong.

Situated on main north-south and east-west arterial highways with easy access, the company ships throughout Canada and the Western United States via truck.

Major rail routes pass the plants allowing shipment via hopper car, inter-modal and boxcar units throughout North America.

“There’s been ambitious growth in the industry,” Pinnacle Pellet Inc. president Craig Lodge said.

“And it’s rising steadily.”

Pinnacle relies heavily on chips and shavings from local mills to produce their compact pellet, but Lodge said they cannot just count on what the industry calls “low hanging fruit.”

Now, the company is getting into biomass product (“everything left over from the saw log,” Lodge said). This includes innovative initiatives such as utilizing new fiber, like treetops, logging debris and slash piles.

Incorporating these types of fibre into pellet production produces what’s known in the business as a “brown pellet.” This is because the efficient heat source now contains bark.

“When we look at Nazko this is fundamentally what we would rely on,” Lodge said.

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This is where Pioneer Family Timber Partnership comes in.

From its humble beginnings in 1973 the family-owned and operated business has emerged as a comprehensive, state-of-the-art, handcrafted log building company, recognized throughout the world.

In1987 Pioneer Logging was established to work alongside Pioneer Log homes in securing and harvesting timber.

“We want to see diversification in the business,” Pioneer rep Brain Hansen said.

Significant to the Nazko project, Hansen said, is the desire to provide extensive fibre to Pinnacle Pellet to double their operations over the next five years.

“We’re really excited about this,” Nazko director of governance and economic development Lee Melnyk said.

“We’re laying a foundation here. There’s a lot of work to be done, we need to work together and support one another.”