Milligan Bio-Tech receives $1.7M contribution from SaskBIO
Photo: Milligan Bio-Tech Inc.
March 21, 2012
BY Erin Voegele
The Government of Saskatchewan has announced it will provide up to $1.7 million to Milligan Bio-Tech Inc. under the Saskatchewan Biofuels Investment Opportunity (SaskBIO) program. The program provides repayable contributions for the construction or expansion of transportation biofuel production facilities within the province. The SaskBIO program will end March 31.
According to Milligan Bio-Tech President and CEO Joe Holash, his company’s production facility in Foam Lake, Saskatchewan, recently completed an $8 million expansion. The new funding will help support additional expansion goals.
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The recently upgraded facility now has a production capacity of 20 million liters (5.3 million gallons) per year. Holash noted that the facility has completed startup and commissioning and is now operating at capacity. The expansion was completed in response to increasing demand for biodiesel in Canada, which he attributes to federal and provincial mandates that have been put into place. In addition to increasing capacity of the plant, Holash noted that the facility’s canola crushing was also upgraded to enable the production of additional feedstock.
Regarding additional expansion plans, Holash said the goal is to keep the operation growing. “We’d like to build on what we’ve learned [at Foam Lake], both in terms of cold-crushing distressed canola and producing biodiesel from that oil and taking that into plants a few times larger,” he said.
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“We are pleased to provide support to Milligan Bio-Tech through the SaskBIO program,” Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornerud said. “These projects contribute to the growth of our rural economy, create jobs and provide additional marketing opportunities for our farmers.”
According to Holash, the Saskatchewan government has been a tremendous supporter of the biodiesel industry in general, and his company in particular. “We are so very appreciative of that,” he said.
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