New owners plan to reopen Vicksburg sawmill, bring back 100 jobs

Published 10:12 am Saturday, May 19, 2018

VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) — New owners are overhauling a Mississippi sawmill and plan to reopen it in July.

William Van Devender says his family has purchased the former Anderson-Tully Co. mill in Vicksburg. Anderson-Tully manufactured hardwood lumber, but Van Devender says new company Vicksburg Forest Products will mostly process southern pine. He says the mill is being expanded to give it a capacity of 100 million board feet (236,000 cubic meters) annually.

Van Devender says more than 100 people will be hired by new owners. His family owns or manages substantial timberland and is associated with a second sawmill in Ackerman called Southeastern Timber Products.

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The Anderson-Tully mill was closed and sold as owner Forestland Group unwinds some of the $465 million it spend buying the mill and timberland in 2004. More than 150 employees lost jobs.