The Vancouver Sun reports in its Tuesday edition the Mackenzie pulp mill reopens today, two years after shutting down and following a roller-coaster ride that included failed bids, a controversial purchase and a bankruptcy proceeding. The Sun's Derrick penner writes the reopening puts 270 people back to work in Mackenzie, a forestry town that took a beating in the industry's recent downturn. Paper Excellence, a subsidiary of the Asian conglomerate Sinar Mas, bought the mill out of bankruptcy for $20-million at the end of March and promised to spend $30-million to $40-million on maintenance and upgrades. Paper Excellence officials said they were aiming for a September restart, but late last week sent notice of the official grand reopening for today. For Paper Excellence, purchasing the Mackenzie mill was a move to secure a source of northern bleached softwood kraft pulp. Company director Peter Wardhana said the deal would include contracts to sell 80 per cent of the mill's pulp production to affiliated mills in Asia. Among the failed attempts to purchase the facility was one by a Vancouver penny-stock company called Range Gold in late 2009, and another by a Chinese oil company, United Petroleum Group.