St Marys Paper Corp. has engaged Dennis Bunnell as Chairman of the Board and CEO to head up the plans to restart production at the St Marys Paper mill in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.

St Marys Paper Corp. curtailed production of its groundwood pulp and paper mill on March 12, 2010. At that time the company indicated it would be managing the curtailment process in order that paper production could continue when market and business conditions warrant.

"St Marys has used this period of curtailment to conduct an independent up-dated marketing and sales study and to evaluate the operational and capital changes needed to ensure long term cost competitiveness. Our goal continues to be to transition the business from simply a paper production facility to a paper production, green energy and bio-economy business. Dennis's proven knowledge, experience and leadership gives us great confidence that he is a key step in achieving these medium and long term goals." said Gord Acton, President of St Marys.

"I am excited to join St Mary's team and believe that the biomass co-generation facility proposed to be built on St Marys property, when combined with capital improvements in the mill, will ensure the long term sustainability of the St Marys business model. We have already commenced discussions with stakeholders concerning our plan. These talks will continue with the goal of restarting the paper mill as early as possible this fall. Our discussions with major stakeholders have been positive and we anticipate completion of these discussions as soon as possible" said Dennis Bunnell.

"There are many items in our business plan which have to come together for the mill to re-open. I was happy to read about the implementation of an energy conservation program and I congratulate the foresight of Ontario Minister of Energy, Brad Duguid. This program will incent large electricity users like St Marys Paper Corp. to increase their usage at off-peak times. Not only does this have a positive impact on the environment, it will help make participating companies more competitive. This is a good program and is one of the critical pieces of our business plan," added Dennis Bunnell.

"St Marys Paper Corp. will be continuing to communicate and solicit support for the new business plan from all stakeholders over the coming weeks." concluded Mr. Bunnell, "This announcement certainly sets us on a positive track. There is more work to be done but we are off to a very positive start."