The forestry minister says he talked Wednesday with the CEO of a northern company trying to buy and restart a shut down pulp mill in Fort Frances but got no assurances a deal can still be done.

Bill Mauro, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, said he spoke with the chief executive of Expera Specialty Solutions over the U.S. company's failed $100 million bid to buy the mill. But no commitments were made by the company or government that could revive the buyout.

Talks between the mill's owner Resolute Forest Products and Expera, ended last week over the failure of the two companies to agree on reasonable wood supply for the mill from the nearby Crown owned forest in northwestern Ontario.

The opposition Tories and NDP have blistered the government over the failed deal, saying Mauro's ministry should guarantee the buyer enough wood to make the mill viable by agreeing to a new sustainable forest licence.

"I talked to the CEO of Expera again just this morning," Mauro told the house under questioning by PC northern development critic Norm Miller.

"We are still working within our ministry, within government, to see exactly what is possible, if anything. I had a good conversation with him this morning - there were no commitments made from him back to me, or from me back to him, only for him to be aware that as a government and as a ministry we are still very interested in seeing something positive for Fort Frances."

Expera was formed last year when KPS Capital Partners bought and merged Thilmany Papers and Wausau Specialty Papers to form the new company, which has four mills in Wisconsin.

Expera is headed by Russ Wanke, the private company's president and CEO.

On Tuesday, local politicians and First Nations groups from northwestern Ontario told a news conference in the Queen's Park media studio that changing the so-called sustainable forest licence could allow Expera to buy and reopen the Fort Frances mill.

NDP MPP Sarah Campbell, who represents the northern riding of Kenora-Rainy River, also pressed Mauro over the buyout, which she has said could add 1,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Heard: Mauro says he talked to CEO over failed pulp mill deal

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