A new $140 million-dollar lumber mill is opening in Bonfield in 2018.

Ontario-based International Wood Industries  is investing in a massive facility to produce soft and hardwood products, along with wood chips and dimensional lumber.

President Gary Medwid says they chose this location after first hearing about last year and realized it had everything they needed, including access to a railroad.

“We saw an opportunity to bring in new technology. With available wood fiber we could develop a very interesting, state of the art facility.”

State of the art it will be incorporating saws and automation not yet seen in Ontario.

The lumber mill will be specifically built along highway 17 West, roughly 3.5 kilometres past the Bonfield turnoff.

Ottawa Valley Railway, who is running the particular set of tracks International Wood would like to use says this is a perfect match.

OVR says they view the area as an opportunity for growth and they couldn’t pass this up.

Meanwhile, Medwid says the facility will bring roughly 90 new jobs to the area but not for a little while.

“We have to do a re-zoning application, we have environmental assessments underway, surveys, soil tests and a traffic survey for the MTO.  We’re looking to have all that completed by September.”

He says actual building of the mill should begin in May of 2018 with full production beginning in January of 2019.

Applications for jobs at the mill can be submitted to the International Wood starting in October.