Province puts weight behind solar glass plant, silica sand mine plan

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This article was published 14/02/2024 (598 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A proposed solar glass production plant in Selkirk and silica sand quarry near Hollow Water First Nation are getting a glowing endorsement from the Manitoba government.

Canadian Premium Sands Inc. is planning to construct North America’s only patterned solar glass manufacturing facility in Selkirk and mine for silica sand close to Hollow Water, some 190 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

“We’re here today to say ‘yes’ to CPS,” NDP Premier Wab Kinew said during an announcement in Selkirk on Wednesday afternoon.

The Calgary-based company has regulatory approval for both aspects of its project (the environmental licence for the production facility was issued in May 2023), and set out to raise capital to build the plant and its associated quarry in the communities of Hollow Water First Nation and Seymourville.

On Wednesday, Environment Minister Tracy Schmidt said the province has dismissed an appeal against the sand extraction proposal to clear the way for development.

“It comes after months of careful review of the appeals by our government and this is over and above the lengthy review by our departmental experts who issued the licences first in 2023,” Schmidt said.

The company is hoping to break ground on the extraction facility this summer, and the manufacturing plant will come in 2025, she said.

Since the extraction licence was issued in 2019, CPS scaled back its project and a notice of alteration was requested and approved by her department, Schmidt said. An appeal to the alteration was dismissed.

“Dismissing these appeals removes the final unknown for the company as they continue moving forward with the goal of having shovels in the ground this summer,” the minister said.

CPS chief executive officer Glenn Leroux previously told the Free Press the project was shovel-ready and the company was in the process of raising $900 million to begin construction.

According to a news release, the plant will produce up to 800 tonnes of solar glass per day, which is a key component in solar energy panels.

An assessment by the Manitoba Bureau of Statistics determined the two projects will create 250 direct jobs, between 600 and 700 jobs during the construction phase, and another 30 jobs near Hollow Water, related to the extraction project.

An estimated $200 million in provincial taxes will be generated over a 10-year period, with similarly positive impact on provincial GDP and labour income, according to the province.

Kinew dodged questions about the potential financial support for the production plant in Selkirk.

“We’re not making any announcements about financing today,” the premier said. “We’re here to talk about regulatory approval and good jobs.”

He also refused to discuss a proposal by German company RCT Solutions to build a solar panel plant in the province, which hinges on a silica mine proposed for southeastern Manitoba by Calgary-based Sio Silica getting approval.

“Unfortunately, there’s a lot of confusion between different silica projects, so I’m not going talk anything at all today about the other project, because I want the news to make it through to the people of Manitoba that this is about the Canadian Premium Sands project,” Kinew said.

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The two projects were extensively reviewed by department experts and were the subject of Crown-Indigenous consultation, according to the province.

Both Hollow Water First Nation and the Community of Seymourville have agreements with CPS to ensure economic participation, oversight and environmental and heritage resource stewardship, Schmidt said.

Selkirk Mayor Larry Johannson said provincial government support of the project will ensure it is “a project that goes, and a project that goes right.”

“This billion-dollar project and the spinoffs it’s going to create will be a huge boon to not only this region in terms of hundreds of jobs, but it’s also going to be a huge economic driver for Manitoba,” Johannson said.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca