AkzoNobel factory

The Valleyfield plant, founded in 1985 as Alby Chlorates and later known as Eka Chimie, Eka Nobel and eventually AkzoNobel after the 1994 acquisition, was once one of the earliest and most influential industries of the Érables industrial park. For decades it produced sodium chlorate for pulp and paper mills across North America, its electrochemical cells and storage tanks forming a quiet but essential part of the region’s industrial landscape. When a global surplus in sodium chlorate destabilized the market, AkzoNobel announced that the Valleyfield facility would be shut down, calling the decision difficult but unavoidable in order to adapt to worldwide shifts. The company pledged support for its employees and publicly thanked the local team for years of dedication, closing the doors on more than three decades of operation. The site has since been fully demolished, leaving no structures behind, only the imprint of foundations and the memory of an industry that once shaped the community. Today, the former plant survives only through photos, archives and the stories of those who worked its halls before everything was erased from the landscape.