This week's announcement that the mill in Crofton, B.C., is closing permanently is reverberating through the small Vancouver Island community — even if many say the news doesn't come as a total surprise.

Retired worker Brian Dice was employed at the mill on and off for 20 years, and his son worked there until last year when the company curtailed its paper operations.

"Put my heart and soul into the place, and now it's shut down — which is a sad day for me and everybody working there," Dice said, while enjoying a lunch at the Brass Bell pub in Crofton.

Dice says that for a long time there was a rumour that the mill would shut down. Even so, the news hit hard for the community of about 1,400, located 70 kilometres north of Victoria.

"Everybody's kind of in shock, actually, how quickly i

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