The facility will have capacity to process 1.1 million metric tons of canola and refine over 500K metric tons of canola oil annually.
Robert Day, CEO, Ceres, said the crushing facility would help meet the “unprecedented demand for oilseed crush” currently in North America.
With its direct connection to the BNSF freight railroad, Ceres can offer Saskatchewan growers access to a variety of markets in the US, he said:
“While there are multiple drivers contributing to this demand, the most important is the movement towards green energy and the need for vegetable oil as feedstock for the production of renewable diesel. We have been analyzing canola crush at Northgate for several years as its location along the Canada-US border is ideally located to originate canola seed from our farmer partners, and with a direct connection to BNSF railway, it provides the most efficient access to the US market and US ports.”
The facility is expected to be operational by summer 2024 and is expected to result in the creation of over 50 full time jobs in Saskatchewan, the largest canola producing province in Canada.
Ceres, along with its shareholders, said it is engaged in discussions with other interested financial and industry players to fund the project.
Canola crush projects
Last month, Cargill announced it was going to add 1m metric tons of additional canola crush capacity in Canada, with a new processing unit, also located in Saskatchewan, in Regina, set to come on stream in early 2024.
The agribusiness giant anticipates construction getting underway early next year. The build is set to cost US$350m.
A spokesperson for Cargill told us end users of the canola products from this plant will be feed, food, and fuel customers. "In terms of meal and oil output, percentages will reflect a typical split found at a facility like this with around 40% oil and 60% meal," he confirmed.
And the facility will look to serve end users located in North America and globally, he added. Cargill expects the facility will need about 50 full-time employees.
That same month saw competitor, Viterra Inc, reveal it too is planning to build a canola-crushing plant in the same location, though with a slightly later timeline in terms of it being operational: towards the end of 2024. That plant will crush massive volumes, up to 2.5m tons of canola per year.
Richardson International also previously announced in March that it will be expanding its canola crush plant in Yorkton, to increase capacity to 2.2m tons, just shy of the projected volumes announced by Viterra. The Richardson plant is also scheduled to go online some three years from now.
