Fibre Pontiac board still hope to attract US firm Renmatix

Fibre Pontiac board still hope to attract US firm Renmatix

Despite the MRC Pontiac not renewing Pierre Vézina’s contract to develop the Biomass valorization centre project (CVB) in the Litchfield industrial park, members of the Fibre Pontiac board (including Vézina) are still working to see it through. Vézina, who is president of the board as well as Martin Boucher, a board member and the director general of the Groupement forestier du Pontiac spoke with CHIP 101.9 about their work.

“Pierre Vézina: What we wanted to do is really update everything that has happened in the past year. I continue to work because I believe in this project a lot and I do it on a voluntary basis.
Martin Boucher: We worked a lot on this file, so our involvement in Fibre Pontiac allows us to believe that one day, perhaps, a project could be born in the Pontiac. (translated)”

The plan for the facility remains the same: attracting Pennsyvania-based company Renmatix to the area and using their proprietary technology to transform wood fibre into food and cosmetic products.

“Martin Boucher: Certainly, at the level of the board of directors, we have taken a step back, following the events that took place concerning Pierre’s contract.
Pierre Vézina: We work a lot with an American firm that has developed technology for the production of bioproducts.
François Carrier: Are you talking about Renmatix here?
Pierre Vézina: Yes, we are talking about Renmatix, which is a company that has developed technology for the production of bioproducts by talking about cosmetics and food products. There will be a third study which will make all the links between the biorefinery and the other production units that we want to install around the biorefinery. But, for all of this to materialize at the operational level, it absolutely takes the biorefinery. (translated)”

Pierre Vézina said that there is still an agreement with the Ministry of Economy and Innovation (MEI) of Quebec which would allow the company to obtain several million dollars if it chooses to install its biorefinery in the Pontiac. The Fibre Pontiac Board of Directors also revealed that it had met with Quebec Minister of the Economy and Innovation and Minister responsible for Regional Economic Development Pierre Fitzgibbon about the project.

Here is a summary of the processes used by Renmatix

The full (French-language) interview with Pierre Vézina and Martin Boucher on the subject of Fibre Pontiac, is available here.