GEORGETOWN — As Georgetown braces for the closure of its International Paper mill, scores of businesses will gather this week to help displaced mill workers find new jobs.

IP announced it would be closing the 87-year-old mill on Oct. 31. As one of the city’s largest employers, the mill’s closure will leave nearly 700 workers without jobs by the end of the year. About 200 contractors will also be affected. 

After IP’s announcement, a coalition of Georgetown officials and organizations began preparing for the aftermath. On Nov. 7, they announced resources available to mill workers, as well as two upcoming job fairs on Nov. 21 and Nov. 22. 

About 75 businesses are expected to attend the job fair, said Rusty Gaskins of the Waccamaw Regional Council of Governments.

“This event, a part of our rapid response system plan, aims to connect IP employees, contractors and others affected by this closure with valuable job and resource opportunities,” Gaskins said.

Zilmet USA, a subsidiary of an Italy-based plumbing parts manufacturer, will be at the job fairs. The company is building a new production facility in Andrews that is set to open in March.

Dianne Lareau, the company’s human resource generalist, said she and her coworkers were floored by the mill’s closure. 

“It’s been such a fixture and stable employment place for so many people,” she said. “It was, oh my gosh, it was shock.” 

But the company soon realized it might be able to help displaced mill workers. With its plant set to open in a few months, it was already looking for workers with similar skill sets to IP employees, Lareau said. She reached out to the county and asked for Zilmet USA to be included in the job fairs.

Lareau expects mill workers could have a smooth transition to working at Zilmet’s production facility because some of their skills may be transferable. She said the company wants to help as many paper mill workers as possible, and even former Liberty Steel mill workers. Zilmet has between 38 and 50 positions available.

SixAxis LLC, a company that makes safety products, could also be a good fit for paper mill workers, Eric Grothaus, the company’s chief human resources officer, said. 

SixAxis has roughly 30 job openings between its Andrews and Sumter locations and will be attending the upcoming job fairs. There are positions available in production, quality, maintenance, engineering, accounting and IT, according to Grothaus.

He said the company has already started interviewing former paper mill workers.

“We’re growing, and so we’re always looking for talented people to help us grow,” he said. “And our thought is there may be people at IP who have the kind of backgrounds and skills that match up with what we do.”

Other businesses participating in the job fair include Silicon Ranch, the company leading the solar farm project in Lambertown, the Georgetown County School District and Georgetown County Government.

Grauthus hopes SixAxis and other companies will be able to help mill workers find new jobs, but he thinks there’s still a long way to go before the community fully recovers from the loss of the mill.

“It takes a while to come to grips with what the new reality will be,” he said. “And I’m confident over time the community will rebound, but it’s going to take some time because it (IP) is such a large employer.”