By Nick Worth Though Jahm Najafi, CEO of Najafi Cos., reportedly told The Arizona Republic he is interested in pur-chasing Catalyst Paper’s Snowflake mill, Catalyst is not in talks with him. Najafi’s company owns and operates Snowflake Power, which runs the biomass power boiler located on the mill property. Catalyst Paper announced July 31 the mill in Snowflake would close permanently. The power boiler gets part of its fuel from waste products the paper mill cannot recycle. This sludge is sent to the biomass boiler to be burned along with scrap wood from the forest to produce electricity, which is then sold to Arizona Public Service Co. and the Salt River Project. APS is required by state mandate to get 15 percent of it electricity from renewable resources by the year 2025. The electricity supplied by Snowflake Power was helping APS reach that goal. According to an article in the Aug. 2 edition of The Republic, Najafi’s company employs 100 workers and subcontractors in the area. “We are not in talks with anyone,” said Lynn Brown, spokesperson for Catalyst Paper. She said Catalyst had exhausted every effort; including attempting to find a buyer for the mill and switching to higher grade paper production in an effort to save the facility. She said the company is now committed to making an orderly exit from the facility. She told The Tribune-News that the facilities’ building would remain and could be used in a future enterprise of some sort. “But it won’t be a paper mill,” Brown said.