ESPANOLA, Ontario — Domtar is indefinitely idling operations at its Espanola pulp and paper operations. The South Carolina-headquartered forest products company announced Sept. 6 that the pulp mill will shut down in early October with the paper machines switched off in early November. Domtar said the shuttering of operations will be for a period greater than one year. The company said 450 employees will be affected at the mill, 70 kilometres west of Sudbury. The mill was on the selling block for months since a Competition Bureau ruling involving the purchase of Resolute Forest Products. …Domtar attributes the decision to “years of ongoing operating losses and high costs associated with maintaining and operating the facility.” …Approximately 280,000 tonnes of northern bleached softwood kraft paper and 69,000 tonnes of specialty paper, produced annually at the northeastern Ontario operation, will be curtailed.