A new West Coast lumber player is making moves in Ontario. GreenFirst Forest Products has a cut a US$214-million cash-and-shares deal to acquire four lumber mills in Chapleau, Cochrane, Hearst and Kapuskasing from Florida pulp maker Rayonier Advanced Materials, as part of the Jacksonville company’s sell-off of assets in northern Ontario and Québec. The Kapuskasing operation includes a newsprint mill. The Québec operations involved in Béarn and La Sarre. Collectively, those mills produced 604-million board feet in 2020. But according to an April 12 news release from GreenFirst, these operations are capable of producing a wide range of forest products including dimensional lumber, wood chips and by-products used in residential and commercial construction. The deal is expected to close sometime during the second half of ths year subject to regulatory approvals and the transfer of forestry licences.