Twain Lumber Company is investing $7.4 million to reopen a shuttered sawmill in Henry County, Virginia, Governor Abigail Spanberger announced. The former Teal Jones facility, inactive for more than a year, will create 74 new jobs once operational.
Over the next three years, the company plans to purchase more than $51.2 million of Virginia-grown forest products. The company will upgrade the facility with new production machinery and equipment, increasing annual capacity from 80 million board feet to 108 million board feet at full capacity, making it one of the largest Southern Yellow Pine sawmills in Virginia.
Twain Lumber Company, headquartered in Antlers, Oklahoma, specializes in sustainable production of Southern Yellow Pine lumber for construction applications. The investment was supported by state and federal grants including $150,000 from the Governor's Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund, $150,000 from the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission, and $59,200 from the Virginia Jobs Investment Program for workforce training.
"This facility has a long history in the region, and we are proud to help bring it back to life after more than a year of inactivity," said Twain Lumber Mill Manager Harrison Wicks. "Restarting the mill and restoring approximately 74 jobs represents an important step for the local economy."