Stayner medical marijuana facility expands
Officials at The Peace Naturals Project invited guests to celebrate a ground-breaking Tuesday marking the construction of a new large-scale cannabis production facility near Stayner.
Cronos Group, the company behind The Peace Naturals Project, is following through on its plan to create a campus style environment to focus on research and innovation in the area of medical marijuana.
Local dignitaries and investors joined in a gold shovel ceremony and champagne toast to announce a 315,000 square foot expansion to the facility on Concession 12 Sunnidale. The expansion includes a state-of-the-art 286,000 square foot production facility, a 28,000 square foot greenhouse and a 1,200 square foot extraction laboratory.
Upon completion, the new facility is expected to be the largest purpose-built indoor cannabis production facility in the world.
“We don’t want to be the biggest in Canada, we want to be the best in the world,” said CEO Mike Gorenstein.
He said they are building a centre of excellence, not just a cannabis facility, and they are already recruiting experts in the field.
Construction is expected to be complete by November of this year and should be fully operational by next summer, bringing Peace Natural’s production to an estimated 40,000 kg per year.
Cronos Group acquired Peace Naturals Project last year and has continued to expand. Gorenstein said capital investments were needed to improve the operation, which was initially described to him as a box of broken crayons, but it had great people.
“We chose to come to Canada from New York because we saw something was possible here what wasn’t possible anywhere else in the world,” he said.
On the day of the groundbreaking ceremony, media and investors were offered tours of the facility’s two growing buildings and a third that was coming online this week. Fifty employees, most of whom are fully suited in coveralls and hairnets to reduce contaminants from the outside world, tend to the marijuana plants by hand, feeding, transplanting, staking and harvesting buds. The product, dried Cannabis flowers and Cannabis infused oils, is sent to the consumer directly from the facility by Canada Post.
They have been testing different methodologies, including lighting. The growing areas are being updated with LED lights, which are brighter and more energy efficient. The lights are so bright that some employees wear sunglasses and the colour of the light changes depending on the growth phase.
The methodologies developed in the existing three buildings will be built upon at the new facility, which is expected to result in 100 jobs.
“The new facility will serve as Cronos’ centre of excellence, providing a platform for top plant scientists, chemists and pharmacologists to advance the science of cannabis. With the ability to build approximately 5,000,000 square feet of facilities across our licensed domestic platforms, this is only the first phase of our expansion. We will continue to be aggressive, but disciplined, constantly evaluating new technologies and exploring international low-cost production sites before each phase of expansion. We’re excited to bring Peace to the world,” said Gorenstein.
Trina Berlo photo: Cronos Group CEO Mike Gorenstein, COO David Hsu, Clearview Township Mayor Christopher Vanderkruys, County of Simcoe Deputy Warden Terry Dowdall and Warden Gerry Marshall dig in during a ground breaking ceremony May 23 announcing a large expansion at The Peace Naturals Project medical marijuana facility near Stayner.
