Burns Lake-based Nations Cannabis has almost finished demolition work as it prepares to build its production plant near Decker Lake.
The work involves the removal of most of the metal siding, insulation and old electrical infrastructure among other items at the old Burns Lake Specialty Wood site on Moe Road.
The metal will be hauled to a scrap metal facility in Prince George, Nations Cannabis executive chairman Wes Sam told Lakes District News.
New plumbing and electrical systems will be installed as part the rebuild scheduled to start this week.
The finished facility is estimated to cost $12 million.
READ MORE: Nations Cannabis readies to begin plant build
Sam hopes the plant can begin growing cannabis as early as the fall, with the entire plant expected to be finished by late October or early November.
“We’ll complete it room by room, we’ll begin growing. As it’s built we’ll start growing.”
The company’s production facility will be one of only a small number of such plants in northern British Columbia.
The Maple Leaf Green World (MGW) plant in Telkwa has been under construction for several months and a company official hopes it can begin production by 2020.
RELATED: Telkwa pot plant application passes review
Cannabis West Development Corporation (CWDC) plans to build a new plant of two facilities in Prince George on a 15-hectare plot which was recently rezoned for the purpose.
RELATED: Prince George, B.C. cannabis facility a step closer to construction
“It looks like we’ll be the largest grower in the north,” Sam said.
With 50,000 square feet of space inside the facility, Nations Cannabis’ plant will be bigger than the 27,000 sq feet of the first phase of the Telkwa operation. A second phase at MGW might add another 80,000 sq feet.
The CWDC’s two facilities in Prince George will have 13,000 sq feet of canopy and two micro cultivators.
On the Nations Cannabis property there are hundreds of wooden skids left over from the old mill that the company doesn’t plan to use. Community members who want them can contact the company’s operations manager Corrine Swenson at cswenson@nationswellness.ca.
Blair McBride
Multimedia reporter
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