The company that owns the Androscoggin Mill heavily damaged in yesterday's massive explosion says it will be a significant length of time before the mill will be able to produce pulp again. In a press release, the Pennsylvania based Pixelle Specialty Solutions says the explosion was caused by a ruptured pulp digester that was damaged extensively.
The company says they are trying to determine what caused the incident and to identify additional corrective and preventative actions.
While Pixelle says it can't estimate exactly when any part of the mill will restart, it is exploring options to resume operating its paper machines, which were not affected by the blast, as soon as possible.
Pixelle says that, at the time of the incident, the mill employed around 500 people and that around 200 were onsite.
All employees, contractors and other people on site were accounted for. The company says the incident resulted in no injuries.