Grain handling company Ceres Global Ag Corp. says plans are on track to build a $385 million canola crushing facility at Northgate, Sask., about 250 kilometres southeast of Regina.
In a recent conference call with investors, Robert Day, president and chief executive officer at Ceres, said project design work is well underway and equipment for the facility is being purchased.
Ceres is also identifying strategic partners for the project, he added.
“As the market is aware, we have begun the process of building a canola crushing facility in Northgate, Sask., that will have the capacity to process approximately one million metric tonnes of canola and refine over 500,000 metric tonnes of oil for both food and renewable fuel annually,” Day said.
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“We have made down payments for major equipment and we’ve engaged project management and design firms to develop the construction and design for the project, keeping us on track to begin operation in the summer of 2024.”
Oil produced at the facility will be marketed primarily to buyers in the U.S. renewable fuels industry, Ceres officials said in a 2021 news release.
Ceres already owns a high-throughput grain elevator and rail transloading facility at Northgate, just a few hundred metres away from the Canada-U.S. border.
Grain and other commodities collected at Northgate are typically shipped south into the U.S. on the BNSF rail network.
Day said the company’s business development team continues to seek acquisition opportunities for its core grain business. Specifically, the company is hoping to add grain origination assets that will boost the company’s handlings of spring wheat, durum and oats.
“We are working on an exciting project in that area as well and we look forward to sharing more information on that in the near future,” he said.
