The grain company formerly known as the Canadian Wheat Board plans to start work next month on two new elevators including its first in Alberta.
G3 Canada announced Tuesday it will build a 42,000-tonne capacity elevator at Wetaskiwin in central Alberta, between Edmonton and Red Deer, and a similar-sized elevator at Maidstone, Sask., about 55 km southeast of Lloydminster.
The company said it expects to start construction at both sites in April, pending regulatory approval, and have both completed before harvest in 2019.
Winnipeg-based G3 said both sites will have capacity to unload trucks in less than five minutes, and “highly efficient” loop track systems to “load trains quickly and keep the grain moving.”
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Both sites, the company said, are “well placed” to supply G3’s planned Vancouver grain export terminal when it comes online in 2020.
The Wetaskiwin elevator will be built on Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) track south of the city, whose lone grain facility is a 960-tonne capacity site owned by the Wetaskiwin Seed and Grain Co-operative. Other elevators near Wetaskiwin include Cargill and Viterra sites at Camrose, about 40 km east.
G3’s planned Maidstone elevator, meanwhile, will be built on Canadian National Railway (CN) track near the town. The nearest major grain handlers include Richardson Pioneer at Marshall, about 35 km west.
“Farmers near both new facilities will benefit from G3’s service model, providing fast truck turnaround and strong delivery opportunities,” G3 CEO Karl Gerrand said in the company’s release.
G3’s primary Prairie elevator network so far includes eight sites in Saskatchewan and three in Manitoba, plus new facilities under construction near Saskatoon and Melville, Sask., both of which were announced last March and are due to open this summer.
Formed in 2015 with the assets of the former CWB, G3 Canada is a joint venture between U.S. grain giant Bunge and SALIC Canada, the Saudi Arabian government’s ag investment arm, with a minority stake held by Class B farmer-shareholders through the Farmers Equity Trust. — AGCanada.com Network
