June 30th 2021 - Quarter Update
ʔaq̓am Trading
Trading has performed well in the second quarter with revenues increasing as covid19 travel restrictions ease and summer travellers arrive.
Leslie Joseph has been spending time training Anna Gravelle and Taran Whitstone in their new ‘Assistant Manager’ support roles. We have also hired two summer students with funding support provided through KNC. Staffing is currently strong in the store and we are starting to schedule more staff on to keep up with the busy summer traffic.
Facebook marketing campaigns will continue into the fall.
D&B Flagging & Traffic Control
Revenues continue to grow as we move into our peak operations season. D&B operations are stable and the crew has now moved into the log building as a central base along with the ACE team.
Gravel Pit
The Species at Risk Permit Application to operate within phases one and two of the gravel pit is still being reviewed by the federal government. We currently have VAST resources contracted to work on the required species surveys.
As our crushing season becomes available again, we have reached back out to B/A Blacktop, Main Roads, and KEL to discuss aggregate needs for the summer construction season.
We are also working on some updated signage to attach to the fencing around the pit and we have installed the new entrance sign off the main road.
We continue discussion and are researching investment into our own equipment as we look to operate the pit independently over time.
Renewable Forest License
Our winter harvest is wrapped up. ARLP has one more harvest scheduled this summer of 2021 and we should see these revenues be deposited by early winter. Canfor has currently curtailed operations due to wildfire risk but we hold hope this will change in the coming weeks with a change of weather and some rain.
Utility Scale Solar Project
We continue to prepare the project site to be shovel ready. We have received our final environmental scope of work from the lands department and have contracted a biologist to complete this work. Archaeological work is scheduled and to be completed this fall.
We have recently been contacted by a private company to construct a private data centre attached to a utility solar array. This is an exciting new opportunity that we are now working on. The Fortis team is currently updating the plant design and working on the project feasibility.
Agriculture Food Production Project
ACE has just completed drafting an agriculture survey and will be sharing this survey with the community to develop feedback from the community. Results from the survey will be used to better plan our greenhouse infrastructure and operation.We will be working on securing a project site this summer as we work on a business plan through this second phase of funding.
Adventure Park
Our adventure park feasibility report was finally delivered to us on Monday July 12th after months of covid19 delays.
ʔaq̓am’s multisport complex feasibility plan has also been completed and we see these two projects working mutually together. The coming months will be working alongside the ʔaq̓am teams to integrate this adventure park into the multiport complex as we delve into business planning.
Further Administrative Support
We have officially on boarded Aminda Joseph as our new full time administrative support for all businesses and corporate units. Ryan Phillips-Clement will spend the next month training Aminda on her administrative responsibilities.
Ryan will now be promoted to Business Development Manager as we grow his responsibilities to begin tackling project management, business analysis and grant writing.
This is a big step in the capacity growth for ACE and will increase our ability to tackle and complete our strategic priorities.
Business Opportunities
ACE continues to explore ad hoc business opportunities that hit our desk.
Lot 79
We have started working closely with the City of Cranbrook planning department, the Ministry of Transportation and the Cranbrook International Airport to look at the possibility of surveying a road in from the airport highway road, through city land and into Lot 79. Lot 79 is currently ‘land locked’ and in order to even consider any business development into this land a road access into the land is the first step to complete.
Annual General Meeting for 2020
As covid19 restrictions ease and vaccinations rates rise we are holding hope to host an in person Annual General Meeting tentatively on Tuesday October 12th of 2021. Stay tuned for dates and invitations.
