Norske Skog Saugbrugs

Norske Skog Saugbrugs
Company typeAksjeselskap
IndustryPulp and paper
Founded1859
HeadquartersHalden, Norway
Key people
Kjell Arve Kure (manager)
ProductsMagazine paper
2066 million kr (2013)
NOK −77 million (2013)
Number of employees
450 (2019)
ParentNorske Skog
Websitewww.norskeskog.com

Norske Skog Saugbrugs AS is a pulp mill and paper mill located in Halden, Norway, which produces supercalender (SC) magazine paper. Located in the river Tista in Tistedalen, the mill produces 550,000 tonnes per year in three paper machines. Pulp is produced both from virgin fibers at an on-site thermomechanical pulp (TMP) mill. Part of Norske Skog, it is the sole remaining magazine mill in Norway.

Established as Saugbrugsforeningen in 1859, the company consolidated the sawmill operations along Tista, demolishing them and building a new sawmill. Pulp production was established in 1889. A major revamp from 1907 to 1910 saw the construction of Tistedalsfossen Power Station and pulp production based on the sulfite process. The company was involved in a wide range of wood processing industries, buying several smaller mills in the area.

The first two paper machines (PM1 and PM2) opened in 1914 and 1915. Viscose production was introduced along with PM3 in 1929. The mill underwent a gradual modernization through the 1950s, resulting in the opening of PM4 in 1963 and PM5 in 1968. From the mid 1970s through the early 1990s the mill cut most of its pollutants which had severely polluted Iddefjord and Tista. This coincided with a cut in most manufacturing not related to magazine paper. Norske Skog bought the mill in 1989 and opened PM6 in 1993. The mill's forests and three hydroelectric power stations were sold in 2001 and 2002.