Cargill plans to build a large canola refinery at its crushing facility near Clavet, Sask.
The company hopes to have the refinery completed in time for the 2014-15 canola harvest.
The project’s price tag is not yet certain because details of its scope aren’t final, but it will be a world scale refinery upgrading raw canola oil from its existing crushing complex into a food grade product.
“It represents the first investment of this kind for Cargill in Canada and is one further step in the creation of Clavet as a major centre for value added processing,” Gonzalo Petschen, president of Cargill’s dressing, sauces and oils division, said in a news release.
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“This builds on the original vision of Clavet being an integrated canola processing hub for Cargill and for Saskatchewan,” said Ken Stone, commercial manager for Cargill Grains and Oilseeds.
Cargill spokesperson Brigitte Burgoyne said the crushing operation until now has shipped raw oil to other refining plants in North America.
The new refinery will crush both Cargill’s specialty high oleic canola varieties and generic types.
The plant will produce mainly for the North American market.
Burgoyne said the company expected to be able to reveal more details about the project before the end of the year.
The Clavet canola crush facility was built in 1996 and capacity was doubled in an expansion in 2009. It is now the largest canola processing facility in Canada and capable of crushing 1.5 million tonnes per year.
The refinery will add up to 30 additional jobs and boost the total employment at the complex to close to 200 employees.
