Canadian Premium Sand Inc. (“CPS” or the “Company”) (TSXV: CPS) is pleased to announce the receipt of an Environment Act Licence for its Wanipigow sand extraction and processing facility and provide an operational update regarding its development of North America’s first vertically integrated patterned solar glass manufacturing facility (the “Project”).
Environment Act Licence
The Company’s Notice of Alteration application was approved by the Manitoba Environment and Climate Department on July 27, 2023. The new Environment Act Licence permits the Company to construct and operate its proposed Wanipigow extraction and processing facility which will supply rare, low-iron silica sand to the Company’s patterned solar glass manufacturing facility in Selkirk, Manitoba.
“The receipt of the Environment Act Licence for Wanipigow marks another important milestone for the Company,” stated Company President & CEO, Glenn Leroux. “Following the earlier issuance of an Environment Act Licence to construct and operate our patterned solar glass manufacturing facility, the Company is now in receipt of all required environmental permits to start construction of the Project.”
Operational Update
In addition to the environmental licence activities, the Company continues to prepare for the construction and operational phases of the Project. Specifically, the Company executed a utility engineering and procurement agreement with Manitoba Hydro that secures certain long-lead items including voltage transformers and enables CPS to maintain its planned construction schedule. The Company also commenced further geotechnical work on the Selkirk site which advances a critical path item in the development of the Project. Finally, the Company completed a Phase 1 environmental assessment of the Selkirk site which confirmed no contamination or environmental issues.
The Company, under the direction of Mr. Dana Partridge, Vice President, Glass Operations, has begun identifying candidates for the key operational roles and commenced the development of standard operating procedures for the manufacturing facility in preparation for commissioning and operational ramp-up.
Finally, the Company continues to progress commercial offtake agreements within a rapidly expanding market. In addition to the Company’s current binding agreements that represent a minimum of 62% of planned output, CPS has advanced discussions with new customers with an objective to reach 100% contracted status prior to construction. Since Q1 2023, there have been several public announcements from solar panel manufacturers for new or expanded facilities. In aggregate, these new facilities represent an additional 29GW of potential incremental demand for patterned solar glass and bring the Company’s current estimate of market demand to over 100GW by 2027.
Once operational, the Project will supply patterned solar glass for 6GW of panel manufacturing capacity in North America and with first mover advantage, the Company is seeking alignment and long-term relationships with the highest quality counterparties.
