There's new hope in Saskatchewan's ailing forest industry — a B.C. company has offered to buy a plywood mill in Hudson Bay and a sawmill in Carrot River.

When those mills in the east-central part of the province closed two years ago, they took 275 jobs with them.

C&C Wood Products Ltd. of Quesnel, B.C. has signed an agreement with the owner of the mills, Weyerhaeuser Co., that could see them reopening. Terms of the potential sale weren't disclosed.

C&C makes wood panelling, specialty board products and wood pellets.

Weyerhaeuser has been shedding jobs in recent years, but still has a forest management agreement — essentially a licence with the province to cut trees — covering large tracts of forest in east-central Saskatchewan.

The companies hope that the government will change the forest management agreement so the two companies can share it.

If that happens, the sale will proceed, paving the wave for the mills to open. Paul Hallan, president of the Steelworkers union local that mill workers belonged to, said he watched his town of Hudson Bay suffer when the mills closed, and he's eager for them to reopen.

"The province is firing on all cylinders but when you have an industry that's been devastated and not functioning — somehow, I've never been able to accept that thought," he said.

C&C vice president of sales and marketing Kris Hayman said he was confident the deal will proceed.

"It is early to tell, but we are looking at starting up hopefully in the summer of 2010," he said.

The company is looking at trying to make the mills more efficient and has to take steps to make sure there's a sufficient supply of logs, Hayman said.