North Bay is poised to add a green-tech element to the city’s collection of mining service companies.
Quebec’s Granutech Canada Recycling Ltd. intends to expand operations into the Gateway City and create between 40 and 50 jobs initially.
The move potentially represents a $12-million to $15-million investment in the city.
Although the company offers a smorgasboard of recycling and green-tech services, they see a unique market in Ontario for recycling the massive off-the-road (OTR) tires used in mining and forestry.
Vice-president of sales and marketing Jean-Claude Avoine bills his company as the “spearhead of OTR recycling in North America.”
The company has agreed to purchase a 20-acre Birchs Road property to build a plant, conditional on securing a provincial Certificate of Approval to operate in Ontario.
Avoine doesn’t expect any snags on the environmental or expansion financing end.
“We don’t foresee any major problems to hit our targets.”
Because Granutech is introducing a new technology to Ontario, North Bay economic development officer Marla Tremblay’s been working with the company to secure the approval from the Ministry of the Environment.
Although it is a “long and onerous” process, Tremblay hears Granutech’s application is a priority item at the ministerial level because there are no proven processors in Ontario that can recycle over-sized tires.
“The only one in Canada is us,” said Avoine. “A lot of tires we process in Quebec are from Ontario, so it’s worth it for us to make the move.”
Granutech’s application plays into the Ontario Tire Stewardship Plan to have all the province’s scrap tires processed here within five years.
If all goes well, they could be approved by December, start construction of a 100,000-square-foot building by next spring and be operational by fall.
Equipment will be set up to process 75,000 tons per year in North Bay, roughly the equivalent of 7.5 million car tires.
The process involves no incineration, but uses their own innovative technology that shreds all kinds of tires and recovers the steel and rubber which can be sold as crown and playground rubber.
“We are recycling 100 per cent of every tire we get.”
The rubber pellets they make can be used as a fuel mix in mill co-generation plants. However, burning rubber for power is prohibited in Ontario.
The company also has a fleet of mobile shredders and has been contracted by the Quebec government to clean up all the province’s old tire storage sites.
The city has been in discussions with Granutech for two years when Tremblay was first contacted by the company’s site selector scouting for available land.
North Bay’s proximity to all the major mining camps in northeastern Ontario and western Quebec made it the perfect location.
Setting up a presence in North Bay also made more sense for the Plessisville, Que. company than hauling tires back to their main operation in the Eastern Townships, 185 kilometres southeast of Montreal, said Tremblay, who is also helping them apply for government funding.
Avoine said low costs had nothing to do with choosing North Bay over four other cities. Rather, it was the support they received from city staff which is “going above and beyond the line of duty.”
“They were very supportive, helpful and were always quick with an answer. The people were just tremendous. It was my preferred target.”
The Birchs Road site is only minutes away from Goodyear Tire’s retreading plant.
“They’re already a customer of ours.”
Tremblay said once they’re fully established, there’s a chance more new technology and service offerings can be added.
“It’s going to be a great project. Anytime you can introduce 50 new solid jobs and new technology is fantastic, and there’s an opportunity for add-on investment or (more) expansion."
