Clifton McKenzie is taking a gap year.

At the age of 62, after spending the past 45 years of his life working at the Tasman Mill in Kawerau, McKenzie got some news this week that cleared his calendar for the near future.

'I was hoping when I left here when I was 65 the mill would still be going, but it's caught up with us. It's a sad day.”

He was 17 years old and straight out of school when he joined the Tasman paper and pulp mill, which Norwegian-based owner Norske Skog announced this week would be closing after 66 years.

McKenzie is one of about 160 people who are employed at the mill and are being made redundant. They will receive full redundancy entitlements.

'I feel sorry for the younger workers now, who are just coming out into the workforce, who now have to go find other jobs,” McKenzie says, sitting at his dining room table in his Kawerau home yesterday, his hi-vis Norske Skog work shirts drying on the washing line outside.

When McKenzie first joined the mill, starting at the very bottom, it had three paper machines.

As he was promoted and worked his way up in the company, one by one those machines were shut down.

The first in 2006 and the second in 2013. Each time, friends and colleagues were laid off.

By June 30, just over a couple of weeks from now, the third and final paper machine will be shut down.

'It is sad. It's going to be a sad day for the community and the people at work,” McKenzie said.

'It's a very big family.”

McKenzie (Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa, Ngāpuhi) is from a big family in Northland, he has seven brothers and three sisters.

Two of those brothers have also worked at the mill.

One of them, Grant, is still there. He has also been there for close to 40 years.

McKenzie says a lot of the guys at work, including his brother, are now wondering what they will do next. He counts himself as one of the lucky ones, to be so close to retirement.

McKenzie was also fortunate to be at the mill during some of the golden years, when there were hundreds of workers, social clubs, fun trips away.

He says he's met a lot of people during his stint, and made a lot of friends. They've been through strikes together, chatted over coffee in the smoko room, partied on weekends.

For someone who has never had children and who has been single his whole life, those connections have meant a lot to McKenzie.

'Forty-five years is a long time, but I've loved the company, and I've loved working here.”

Norske Skog's announcement that it would be selling the Tasman Mill's assets and stopping production by the end of the month didn't come as a complete surprise to the workers at the mill, or even most of the people around Kawerau, a town in the eastern Bay of Plenty with a population of about 7500.

The closure follows a strategic review that began at the mill last September 2020. Speak to anyone around town, and they will tell you there's been speculation about the future of the mill for many years.

Norske Skog regional president Eric Luck says the company will work with employees and their union representatives on the implementation plan for the closure of the mill, with the aim of making the process as smooth as possible.

Staff will be provided with counselling and outplacement services.

Luck says the company wants to acknowledge everyone who has worked at and for the mill over the past 66 years.

'It has certainly been an important contributor to the local and national economy,” he says.

The Tasman Mill commenced newsprint production in 1955 and has produced more than 15 million of tonnes of paper.

Most staff members will finish up in mid-July once a clean-up has been completed at the site.

-Full story by Scott Yeoman/Stuff.