Local cannabis company growing over 100 new jobs

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This article was published 04/01/2018 (3153 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A growing medical marijuana business in Winnipeg says it plans to create 105 full-time jobs this year and another 12 construction jobs with the expansion of its production facility.

The number of jobs is expected to almost double in 2019, Delta 9 Cannabis Inc. chief executive officer John Arbuthnot said in a news release Thursday.

“This expansion empowers our commitment to reliably supply the Manitoba market with cannabis products that are produced here in Winnipeg, and it will create hundreds of full-time, quality jobs in our province,” Arbuthnot said in the release. “These developments are great for our shareholders, but we’re equally happy to see they are also creating economic benefits for our friends and neighbours in the province of Manitoba.”

From $12-an-hour sanitation workers to $100,000-a-year “master growers,” the company has a long list of positions it will need to fill, Arbuthnot said in an email to the Free Press.

The company said it expects to create more than 200 new jobs in the areas of production and construction this year and next.

Delta 9, a licensed producer of medical marijuana under Health Canada’s Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations, operates an 80,000-square-foot production facility in Winnipeg.

By the end of 2019, Delta 9 said it expects to increase its production capacity to approximately 12,000 kilograms of cannabis per year.

This year, the company said it will spend $5.7 million building 112 of its self-designed grow pods and another $10.2 million in 2019 to build an additional 224 grow pods. Delta 9 said 312 of the pods will be used as “producing pods” that would each produce approximately 30 kg to 32 kg of cannabis per year. The remaining 24 pods will be used as “support pods” — “mothering” or cloning rooms – that won’t produce cannabis for sale, the company said.

It may also allocate additional revenue from the sale of cannabis and other current working capital to build additional grow pods this year and beyond, Delta 9 said.

“The grow pods we’ve designed over the past two years represent a great return on capital investment, and we’re very excited to move into full-scale construction this year,” Arbuthnot said in the press release. “Each of these pods costs only $40,000 to retrofit and install, including related expenses, but each can produce between $225,000 and $240,000 in annual revenue.”

The company said its revenue estimates are based on an average sale price of $7.50 per gram of cannabis. By the end of 2018, the company estimates it will be in a position to generate more than $75 million in annual revenue from the sale of cannabis.

Arbuthnot laid out an array of positions Delta 9 will need to fill with the expansion, including quality-assurance and quality-control jobs that will require a background in applicable sciences, including microbiology and chemistry.

Manufacturing will be headed by “master growers” responsible for hands-on plant management, maintenance of mother plants, clipping new juvenile plants, flowering of production-stage plants, nutrient delivery, plant health assessments. There will be positions in harvesting, trimming, drying, processing, packaging, and labelling of cannabis products with wages starting at $12 an hour.

Developing cannabis oils and cannabis-extract products — from base oils, pills and gel caps to edibles, concentrates, and infused soda pops — will have a salary range from $40,000 to $80,000, Arbuthnot said.

Sanitation and maintenance jobs will start at $12 an hour and go up to $45,000 a year for keeping the facilities clean and well-maintained and meeting all Health Canada standards for sanitary production practices.

Customer service and sales jobs involve registering clients, ordering, customer service, handling complaints, education and product knowledge, will pay $12 an hour to start, with salaries ranging up to $60,000 a year.

Marketing and promotions staff will be hired to handle those functions online, through social media, trade shows, conferences and more traditional advertising, with salaries ranging from $30,000 to $80,000 a year, Delta 9 said.

And there are stock options, Arbuthnot said.

“Delta 9 prides itself on having one of the most inclusive stock options plans in the sector and offers stock to all employees who have been with the firm for more than one year. Stock options align employee interests with the short-term and long-term goals of the company.”

Delta 9 Cannabis Inc. shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “NINE”.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca