Investors Rebuild, Re-open Cosmopolis Dissolving Pulp Mill as Cosmos Specialty Fibers
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The Gores Group, a Beverly Hills, Calif., USA--based private equity firm, this week officially opened its Cosmo Specialty Fibers (CSF) mill in Cosmopolis, Wash., as a high purity specialty cellulose (dissolving pulp) operation. The mill is the former Grays Harbor County Weyerhaeuser facility in Cosmopolis that was shutdown in October 2005. The company anticipates producing 140,000 tpy of high-purity cellulose for acetate tow, viscose filament, and viscose staple fiber.
With the closure of the Weyerhaeuser mill, the City of Cosmopolis lost 40% of its revenue and more than 200 jobs. The Gores Group's investment in the mill will add back those jobs—many of them filled by former Weyerhaeuser staff and more than 95% employed from Washington State—while funneling more than $110 million annually into the economy.
"This investment is the definition of marketplace diversity with a pulp feedstock that can be used for clothing, cosmetics, filters, LED screens, cellophane wrap, pharmaceuticals, food processing, and many other products," Alec Gores, founder and chairman of the Gores Group, noted. "The mill can run on biomass and recycled liquors pulled out of the digesting process with very little use of fossil fuel. And it uses Hemlock – not only the best fiber in the world for dissolving pulp, but also a fully renewable resource itself."
Cosmo Specialty Fibers CEO Mike Entz added that "we are very excited to reopen the mill. The Gores Group is proving that we can create and keep manufacturing jobs in America—where they are needed—and with its operational and financial support, we'll produce outstanding product, bolster the economy, and continue to build on America's great manufacturing legacy."
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