Badger Mining Corp. (BMC) has completed arrangements to start shipping its raw and coated Premium Northern-White industrial sand to a new storage and rail-to-truck transloading facility in Obed, Alberta, Canada, west of Edmonton, operated by Wayfinder Corp.
The site, with its capability of accommodating up to three unit trains of industrial sand at one time, sits along the CN main line and will allow BMC, a family-owned, value-driven company based in Berlin, Wis., to better supply its quality products to customers of the Deep Basin of Western Canada.
“We’re very excited to work with Wayfinder Corp. and the CN to bring our latest terminal in Obed to market,” said Adam Katz, leader of sales and marketing at BMC. “Looking ahead to brighter times in our industry, high-capacity, unit train sites like Obed will be key to servicing our customers in Western Canada.”
JJ Ruest, CN executive vice-president and chief marketing officer, said, “CN is pleased to work with Badger Mining and Wayfinder to improve supply chain efficiencies and to increase their frac sand market share. CN has made important strategic capital investments in its network to help accommodate the business of frac sand producers in Wisconsin and receivers in Alberta.”
“As the industry recovers from historically low activity levels, we see significant opportunity for Wayfinder and Badger to work together in supplying Deep Basin customers the proppants they require,” said Chad Bremner, CEO of Wayfinder.
BMC also announced it has signed a long-term agreement to become an exclusive sand tenant of ANC Transloading Inc.’s Fox Creek facility, located 260 km (160 miles) northwest of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on the CN railroad. For customers in the Deep Basin of Western Canada, this agreement not only adds another BMC transload location to the area, but also calls for an immediate expansion of the facility that will triple the site’s current capacity.
“ANC Transloading Inc. is very pleased to have completed this deal for the Phase 1 development of our Fox Creek (Marsh Head) facility with BMC becoming one of the site’s anchor tenants,” said ANC Transloading President Cornel Notenboom. “We are very delighted to be partnered with a first-class organization such as Badger Mining, where together we can work to achieve our goal of having world-class transload facilities in both Whitecourt, Alberta, Canada, and Fox Creek, Alberta, Canada (Marsh Head).”
BMC’s Katz added, “Our long-term agreement with ANC Transloading Inc. to be the exclusive sand tenant of the Fox Creek facility is almost as exciting as our plans for immediate expansion of the site. Job sizes are only getting bigger and our customers deserve best in class service throughout Western Canada. The expansion of our Fox Creek site is a key part of our plan to be the largest and most competitive supplier of industrial sand throughout the Deep Basin.”
Like many of BMC’s transloading facilities in Alberta, the company will again be working with the CN to become the largest sand supplier in the region. Fiona Murray, vice-president, industrial products, for CN, said, “CN plays a key supply chain role for both Badger Mining and ANC Transloading, transporting high-quality frac sand on its rail network from Wisconsin to northwestern Alberta. Our agenda of operational and service excellence is helping both companies pursue their growth plans in emerging western Canada energy markets like the Duvernay, potentially one of North America’s leading shale gas plays.”
The expansion of the facility is set to be complete by the end of the current year. For BMC, the facility will join the other 26 transloading sites currently in its distribution network. It also represents BMC’s third new transload addition in the past month.