INDUSTRY AND TRADE - SUMMER/FALL 2020

Industry And trades SUMMER/FALL 2020

Industry in our region

SUMMER/FALL 2020 | INDUSTRY & TRADE

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INDUSTRY & TRADE | SUMMER/FALL 2020

Inside Goods still flowing through northern B.C, despite pandemic pg 5 slowdown Canfor’s Swedish subsidiary buying three sawmills Geoscience BC develops easier way to locate mineral deposits

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The ever changing demand on connectivity

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Cariboo First Nation breaks ground on cannabis facility

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Limited Via Rail service back on track

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West Coast Olefins eyeing Summit Lake, Bear Lake sites pg 13 The ever changing demand on connectivity PG 10

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A container ship is docked at the container terminal at the Port of Prince Rupert in an undated handout photo. (Port of Prince Rupert handout photo)

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Goods still flowing through northern B.C, despite pandemic slowdown Citizen staff

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he COVID-19 has caused a slowdown of the global economy but, despite that, cargo volumes moving through the Port of Prince Rupert are on a record pace.

In 2019, the port had its best year to date, moving 29.9 million tonnes of cargo. During the first four months of 2020, 12.6 million tonnes of goods shipped through Prince Rupert – up nine per cent compared to last year, a statement issued by the port said.

“As the Port of Prince Rupert continues to grow and expand the cargo moving through the gateway, we have witnessed firsthand how vital a diverse port complex is,” port authority president Shaun Stevenson said in a press release.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has created global economic uncertainty, and through this

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challenging situation, the Prince Rupert gateway has not only remained fluid, but year-to-date volumes are above last year’s. This reinforces why the Prince Rupert Port Authority and our partners are working to diversify the Port of Prince Rupert and further increase our resiliency as a gateway.”

The biggest increase has been at Ridley Terminals, a bulk cargo terminal handling exports of metallurgical and thermal coal, petroleum coke and liquefied petroleum gas. Cargo volumes at Ridley have increased 39 per cent compared to 2019.

The new propane export terminal at Ridley Island has contributed to the growth of port operations, the port authority reported.

The strong global demand for wood pellets has prompted 24 per cent growth in volume at Pinnacle

Renewable Energy’s pellet loading facility at Westview Terminal.

Container traffic at the port has been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the port seeing a 12 per cent decrease in the first four months of 2020 compared to the same period last year. May saw the biggest hit, with container volumes down 37 per cent from May 2019.

Projects to expand the capability and capacity of the port are underway, including projects to expand transloading capacity for both exported and imported goods.

“There is nearly $1 billion in capital expansion either underway or planned to advance over the upcoming year in the growth and expansion of the Port of Prince Rupert,” Stevenson said. “This not only a represents a significant economic impact and stimulus

through the construction phase, but expands and diversifies Canada’s capacity to support export industries and grow international trade.”

According to statistics released by the port, $50 billion in goods moved through the port last year.

That activity generated $1.5 billion in economic activity in the north and supported 3,600 direct jobs in the supply chain, paying $481 million in annual wages.

“The efforts of the Port of Prince Rupert’s workforce and their employers to make this happen deserve a salute,” Stevenson said.

“Because of them, the gateway has been able to maintain volumes, activities and employment at close to normal levels.”

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Canfor’s Swedish subsidiary buying three sawmills

Vida Group’s sawmill in Avesta, Sweden is seen in a Vida Group handout photo. (Vida Group handout photo)

Citizen staff

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anfor’s Swedish subsidiary, Vida Group, entered an agreement to purchase three sawmills in the Scandinavian country for $43 million plus working capital, the company said on June 17.

Owned by Bergs Timber, they are located in Vimmerby, Mörlunda and Orrefors, Sweden, will add about 215 million board feet to Vida’s annual capacity.

With additional investment,

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Vida anticipates the production capacity of the mills can be increased to 300 million board feet, Canfor said in a statement.

“We are excited that Vida’s strong performance and balance sheet has enabled them to grow their operating footprint in Sweden,” Canfor CEO said Don Kayne said.

After taking into account this additional production capacity, Canfor said Sweden represents

22 per cent of the company’s production capacity, plus 43 per cent in British Columbia, 31 per cent in the southern United States and four per cent in Alberta.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2020 and is subject to due diligence, completion of certain transaction documents and other customary closing conditions, including any

required regulatory approvals.

Following downtime related to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vida is operating at full capacity and Canfor continues to employ variable operating schedules in North America with sawmills in the United States operating at almost full capacity and Canadian sawmills operating at about 90 per cent effective June 18, the company said.

INDUSTRY & TRADE | SUMMER/FALL 2020

Geoscience BC develops easier way to locate mineral deposits A new soil gas testing system is seen in use in an undated handout photo by Geoscience BC. (Geoscience BC handout photo)

Citizen staff

Geoscience BC has pioneered a quicker, easier method to help identify mineral deposits in the B.C. interior.

Last month, the not-for-profit society published a report detailing tests on the use of a portable device designed to identify anomalous soil gas concentrations that could indicate geological faults and mineralization beneath glacial deposits.

“In the past, this exploration method has been successful, but the equipment is relatively

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expensive and the surveys can be slow,” project leader Dave Sacco said in a press release.

“This project has tested a small, field-portable, battery-powered system that delivers results in around 20 minutes on the spot.”

The device tested consists of inexpensive carbon dioxide and oxygen sensors, a 1.5-metrelong soil gas sampling probe, gas pump and a computer. To use the system, the team drove the sampling probe 30 to 40 centimetres into the ground and pumped gas from the soil to the

detectors for measurement.

In 2019, a B.C.-based geoscience research team used the device at Mouse Mountain, 14 km northeast of Quesnel, and Shiko Lake, 15 km north of Horsefly, where faults and deposits of copper and gold are known to occur. The researchers gathered a series of samples through the area and found the concentrations of carbon dioxide and oxygen detected in the soil coincided with structures and mineralization beneath the ground.

“Minerals research projects like this encourage the development and use of innovative mineral exploration,” Geoscience BC vice-president Christa Pellett said in a press release. “This field-portable, quick and inexpensive soil gas testing technique has the potential to be a new tool in B.C.’s mineral exploration toolkit.”

For more information about the project, go online to www.geosciencebc.com/ projects/2018-028/.

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The ever changing demand on connectivity

ABC Communications

How is your connectivity during the COVID pandemic?

This is certainly a question every Canadian has been asking themselves if they live outside the city limits. How

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do we work from home with slow speeds and high latency?

These are difficult challenges that many organizations and levels of government are trying to solve.

It is a complex challenge especially in British Columba as our topography is very diverse and covered with trees.

In many rural areas the popu-

lation density makes wireline services such as Cable, DSL and Fibre Optic connections expensive to install and maintain. This leaves these residents and businesses with

INDUSTRY & TRADE | SUMMER/FALL 2020

three distinct service options; Cellular, Fixed Wireless and Satellite.

As all three technologies emerge their speeds have continued to increase over time with the addition of spectrum and spectral efficiency through software and hardware improvements. There are however significant differences between these services and their service offerings. The key factors that affect end users are download speed, upload speed and latency.

Most consumer services for small business and residential subscribers are asynchronous connections. That means they provide more download (data coming in) than upload (data coming out). This is done because the major of internet content is consumed through downloading rather than sending data back. More and more services are advertising as synchronous though as subscribers user more upload-

SUMMER/FALL 2020 | INDUSTRY & TRADE

ing capabilities through video conferencing and uploading of large files. These services are generally premium services and only affordable by larger business customers.

In rural regions often the construction of a wireline services is often too expensive to construct. In these cases a wireless bridge between a fibre optic connection and the desired location can be extended to offer an enterprise fibre grade service. These services provide high bandwidth and low latency conditions optimal for business operations.

Back to the three most common forms of rural connectivity and their characteristics.

Satellite internet is generally launched on an expensive rocket flight and then oversubscribed to provide the best return on the investment. Satellite also has the highest latency out of all the solutions as data must travel to orbit and back.

It is however the only solution in remote locations and does provide a reliable affordable solution for many applications where no other options exist.

Mobile cellular solutions have been emerging as a primary connection type for rural subscribers. They do however suffer from service degradation due to oversubscription and degradation of service through many people connecting with poor signal levels. Fixed Wireless Internet services are connected with an outdoor subscriber station which has a better antenna to receive the signal from a further distance or through more obstructions. The better signal level generally impacts the service.

Fixed wireless solutions are also generally designed to have subscriber signal thresholds so that poor signal doesn’t bring down an entire cells performance. It is also typically much lower latency which al-

lows for real time applications like voice, video and gaming to perform without noticeable delay. This is an area of technology that ABC Communications has become a national leader in. We have been first to launch in a number product types and have the largest footprint and customer base using these technologies in BC today.

Whatever solution you are looking for to serve your broadband needs in your home, business or a combination of the two you can always contact ABC Communications to learn more about what we have to offer. We specialize in rural connectivity, wireless point to point services, private fibre networks, urban wireline services through our TELUS partnership, telephone systems, VoIP, IPTV, and much more. For inquires please email: info@abccommunications.com

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Cariboo First Nation breaks ground on cannabis facility During a groundbreaking ceremony on June 22, Williams Lake First Nation Chief Willie Sellars said it has been a long time coming to see provincial and federal governments stepping out and supporting projects like Sugar Cane Cannabis. (Rebecca Dyok photo) Rebecca Dyok , Local Journalism Initiative Reporter / The Williams Lake Tribune

It was a momentous day for the Williams Lake First Nation, formerly known as the Williams Lake Indian Band, that broke ground on B.C.’s first farmto-gate cannabis cultivation facility.

A ceremony was held under cloudy skies June 22 on reserve lands within the city of Williams Lake for Sugar Cane Cannabis that will open in spring 2021.

“The project we’re here to break ground on is an exciting one and one that has been in the planning for more than a year and a half,” Kukpi7 (Chief) Willie Sellars told the crowd.

state-of-the-art, the 7,000-square-foot facility will allow customers to purchase high quality cannabis directly from the facility where it will be grown.

“It will be, to the best of our knowledge, the first such Indigenous-owned facility in Canada,” Sellars added, noting it will provide up to 20 new jobs.

Support for the $3 millionfacility has come from a number of funding entities including $500,000 from the B.C. Government as well as $250,000 each from Indigenous Services Canada and Northern

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Development Initiative Trust (NDIT).

The remainder of the project will be funded directly by the Williams Lake First Nation through its own source revenues, Sellars said.

“Williams Lake First Nation is proud to be a business leader and the people of this town should also be proud that they are part of something that is special and unique.”

Saying she was wearing two hats, chair of NDIT and Cariboo Regional District Margo Wagner said the creation of the facility highlights the start to rebuilding the economy that has faced chaos as result of the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme weather, and adversely impacted by mill closures and wildfires.

“We know for many years that Indigenous people have faced obstacles to prosperity due to circumstances outside of their control,” Wagner said.

“A diverse local economy capitalizing on new opportunities with Indigenous businesses playing a key role can offer a way to address all of those concerns.”

Kukpi7 (Chief) Patrick Harry of Stswecem’c Xgat’tem (Canoe/ Dog Creek) that is exploring a cannabis operation of its own congratulated the Williams Lake First Nation on the facility, as well as the name change.

Harry noted the great deal of trauma Indigenous peoples have experienced and said it was important to note the medicinal purposes of cannabis.

“When I look at Indigenous Bloom and I look at this new facility I see a really great

opportunity to provide medicine to our people and to the Secwepemc people of Williams Lake First Nation and to the surrounding community here,” he said.

One representative from the City of Williams Lake was in attendance: Coun. Scott Nelson.

Sellars noted efforts to get the project off the ground have not been without challenges — the most significant he said being the relationship with the City.

He called Nelson’s attendance as a big step for the City and said it gave them hope the City and rest of city council will sit down with them so they can move forward in collaboration and partnership to do good for the region.

“In order for the Williams Lake First Nation to excel we also need the city of Williams Lake’s support,” Sellars said.

“We’re committed to Williams Lake First Nation members but we’re also committed to the betterment of the Cariboo Chilcotin.”

Sugar Cane Cannabis will be built in partnership with numerous local businesses and subcontractors including Lake Excavating and Lauren Bros Construction.

The interior of the retail space will be designed by Rena Johnson of The Rusty Bucket who has worked with the nation on a number of projects including their government office in downtown Williams Lake.

The facility’s architectural design will be co-ordinated by Genotype Innovations from Kelowna.

INDUSTRY & TRADE | SUMMER/FALL 2020

A Via Rail train pulls out of Prince George. Passenger rail service between Prince Rupert and Jasper resumed this month, after a nearly six-month suspension. (Citizen file photo)

Limited Via Rail service back on track Citizen staff

Via Rail service between Prince George, Jasper and Prince Rupert resumed on July 5, after being suspended for almost six months.

Passenger rail service on the line had been suspended since Feb. 12, when the rail line was blockaded by protesters near New Hazelton.

“Via Rail is pleased to announce that service will resume starting July 5 with one round-trip per week offered in each direction,” a press release issued by the company last month said. “Please note that we have limited the number of bookable seats aboard our trains in order to provide passengers physical distancing space when travelling and as such some departures may sell out. Checked baggage service SUMMER/FALL 2020 | INDUSTRY & TRADE

will be offered.”

Service from Jasper to Prince George run on Sundays and continue east to Prince Rupert on Mondays each week. Trains leave Prince Rupert for Prince George every Wednesday, and run Prince George to Jasper on Thursdays.

Previously Via Rail trains ran three times per week in each direction.

In the statement issued in June, Via Rail said work being done on the line by CN Rail was the cause for the lengthy delay in restarting the service.

Jasper will be the end of the line for passenger service until Nov. 1, when The Canadian line - running from Vancouver to Toronto – resumes service.

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West Coast Olefins eyeing Summit Lake, Bear Lake sites

This map shows two potential sites for the proposed West Coast Olefins petrochemical refinery. (West Coast Olefins handout photo) Arthur Williams

West Coast Olefins has identified two potential sites near Summit Lake, and two others near Bear Lake, for its proposed $5.6 billion petrochemical complex.

In a live-streamed presentation to McLeod Lake Indian Band members last month, West Coast Olefins president and

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CEO Ken James and band representative Terry Kuzma briefed members about the project.

“I see this this as the first step of starting the dialog,” James said. “We are trying to get collaboratively ahead, before we start the regulatory process.”

Slides made available to

McLeod Lake members through Facebook show the two proposed complex sites near Summit Lake, approximately 50 kilometres north of the city. Two other locations near Bear Lake are under consideration, Kuzma said.

The company had initially planned to build the complex at a 300-acre site in the BCR Industrial Site, but after public concerns about air quality were raised the company announced earlier this month it will look locate north of the city instead.

The sites are close to the Enbridge West Coast natural gas pipeline that will provide the feedstock for the plants. The three-part project is expected to include an ethylene plant, ethylene derivatives plant and a natural gas recovery system and produce about one million tonnes per year of polymergrade ethylene. The majority of that would be used in the adjacent ethylene derivatives plant to produce polyethylene – plastic pellets – and possibly mono-ethylene glycol to be used as antifreeze and heat transfer fluid.

“The pipeline was there, but if you noticed the rail line, the highway and the BC Hydro lines are all through there,” James said.

A project like West Coast Olefin’s needs access to affordable feedstock, water for cooling towers, power for the compressors and access to Asian markets to succeed, James said.

The locations they are looking at meet all of those needs, he said.

The plants would have an approximately 100-acre footprint, and occupy a 300-acre site to allow for setbacks, James said.

The Summit Lake locations are preferable from a business

logistics point of view because they are closer to Prince George, Kuzma said.

“From a McLeod Lake perspective, I don’t think there’s been a green-light on any of the four sites. These sites have not been vetted through the McLeod Lake lands department,” Kuzma said. “One of the key milestones will be site selection.”

The band’s negotiations with the company are subject to a non-disclosure agreement, Kuzma said, but any agreement would include an equity stake for the band and employment opportunities for band companies and members.

“We’re very passionate about the Duz Cho group of companies. We have the knowhow, we can do the work,” Kuzma said. “We want to be part of the front-end of this project.”

According to West Coast Olefin’s application to the EAO, the first phase of the development would cost about $2.8 billion and create 2,000 to 3,000 jobs during construction from 2021 to 2023. Once complete, the ethylene plant would employ 140 to 180 people directly, and 25 to 50 additional contract employees.

Once all three phases of the complex are complete, they are expected to employ approximately 1,000 people.

James said he expects the majority of the workforce, both during construction and operation of the plant, will come from Prince George.

“The best, most stable workforce is you train the local people. Their families are here,” James said. “(At Nova Chemical’s Red Deer plant) the farmers we trained to run a petrochemical plant, they stayed for 40 years.”

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