BIG ISLAND, Virginia (From The Lynchburg News & Advance) -- The Georgia-Pacific plant in Big Island is undergoing about $50 million in improvements with its biggest expense being an upgrade to its pulp mill.

"The pulp mill is the oldest part of the mill," said Zoe Myers, public affairs manager for the 124-year-old Georgia-Pacific plant in Big Island.

"The projects are aimed to improve reliability and upgrade our technology," she said.

Myers would not specify what the rest of the money was being used for other than capital projects, saying the information was proprietary.

The plant, which is about 15 miles north of Lynchburg on the James River, has about 330 employees.

No new employees will be hired as a result of the improvements, but about 70 contractors are being employed for its development.

The construction started last fall and is expected to be completed by the end of this year, Myers said.

In 2011, the Big Island Georgia-Pacific plant spent $10 million to replace a decades-old coal-burning boiler for a new natural gas-powered one. The replacement was spurred by new air quality rules.

Georgia-Pacific is a subsidiary of Koch Industries and is headquartered in Atlanta, employing about 35,000 people at more than 200 facilities worldwide.