NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT
The Cancarb facility in Brier Park is shown in this April 30, 2018 photo. Work is underway on the site as Cancarb begins preparations to add a new production unit next year.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant
Cancarb will spend $40 million over the next 18 months to add another production unit and expand its warehousing system at its Medicine Hat production facility, the company announced on Wednesday afternoon.
A sixth carbon black unit will increase production of the rubber component by 20 per cent, to 54,000 tonnes, as well as boost electrical power produced by a heat-recovery system, said Cancarb president Ken Tate.“(Parent company) Tokai Carbon has made a significant investment to our customers, our employees and our community,” Tate told workers, the media and dignitaries during an afternoon event in the firm’s huge main warehouse.
Tokai president and CEO Hajime Nagasaka, whose company purchased the facility in 2014, told workers that “Cancarb has been a great addition to our company, and we’re very pleased with the results.”
Demand in North America and the low stable price of natural gas in Alberta, had positioned the plant well. Refitting a warehouse next to the facility on Brier Park Crescent, which was purchased by the company this year, will add 27,000 square feet of storage. The current workforce of 78 is expected to expand by nine full-time positions once work is complete.
Construction work will begin in April with a estimated completion date in the summer of 2020.It would be the fourth expansion of the plant that opened in 1973 to transform natural gas into carbon black, a component in rubber tires, gaskets and other material. Previous work took place in 1985, 1996, and in 2000 when the power generator was installed.
City officials on hand Wednesday said an agreement was in place to take added power onto the city’s grid.
