Canfor Puts About $96 Million Into Its El Dorado Lumber Hub, Adding About 75 Jobs

ON THE RADAR

EL DORADO, Ark. — Canfor Southern Pine is investing approximately $96 million to modernize its Iron Mountain lumber mill in El Dorado and add rail shipping there, creating approximately 75 additional jobs at the facility and in logistics, the Arkansas Economic Development Commission announced Oct. 27.

Iron Mountain produces Southern Yellow Pine dimensional lumber and joined Canfor in August 2024 through the purchase of Arkansas Resolute El Dorado. The work comes in phases: a planer upgrade finished in the second quarter of 2025; a shipping transload facility, built at Iron Mountain earlier this year, that moves lumber between trucks and rail cars for Iron Mountain and the nearby Urbana Sawmill; and a sawmill and log yard expansion due in the fourth quarter of 2026. Canfor Southern Pine President Lee Goodloe said the work ties Iron Mountain, Urbana and the El Dorado Laminating Plant into a regional hub with better fiber use, product flow and reach across North America.

Location Decision analysis: This announcement describes a build-out that is well underway, not a fresh decision. Two of the three pieces, the planer and the rail transload, are already finished. The release does not split the $96 million by phase, so it is not clear how much remains to be spent on the sawmill and log yard due by year end.

The bigger change is volume. The release says the projects will more than double Iron Mountain's annual net production, to approximately 220 million board feet, which implies output today of less than about 110 million. Employment moves in step: about 75 added jobs and roughly 150 full-time workers at Iron Mountain after the work, which implies the plant's headcount also roughly doubles. Our inference, not the company's: doubling a sawmill's output means roughly doubling the logs trucked into it, which puts pressure on timber supply and log-hauling capacity around Union County. The rail transload is Canfor's answer on the outbound side. The release does not address inbound wood supply.

Whether the sawmill and log yard finish on the fourth-quarter 2026 schedule. When the 75 added jobs are filled; the release counts jobs "at the facility and in logistics" and does not split them or give hiring dates. Any incentives: the release names none, and Goodloe only thanks the Arkansas Department of Commerce for "continued support." How production ramps toward 220 million board feet once the new equipment runs.

El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce: (870) 863-6113, [email protected], per the chamber page, checked Nov. 7, 2026. AEDC media inquiries: 501-682-5996, per the AEDC newsroom. The release names no Canfor media contact.