September 30th 2021 - Quarter Update
ʔaq̓am Trading
Trading continues to perform well financially from July to September. Staffing is stable as our two new assistant managers, Anna Gravelle and Taran Whitstone continue to train and get comfortable in their roles supporting our store manager Leslie Joseph.
We are well on our way to hit our sales targets and net profit goals for 2021.
We continue to diversify our gift offerings in the store supporting Indigenous artists from across Western Canada.
D&B Flagging & Traffic Control
D&B has had a very busy summer and has had real challenges recruiting new flaggers as government Covid-19 support programs were still in place and we could not find new recruits when we really needed staff. Despite the staffing shortages we have had a very busy and productive 2021 trying to keep up to the demand.
The D&B Board of Directors continue planning and working on a draft 2021/22 budget that will be presented for approval in October of 2021 before the start of our new fiscal year.
Management and human resource teams continue plans for the upcoming winter on a recruitment and training strategy for early 2022.
The capital asset budget and plan will be presented in the winter of 2021 for review and approval. This will be a necessary step to ensure we continue updating our vehicle fleet, signage and equipment to continue building our business.
The species at risk permit that ʔaq̓am Resources Limited Partnership applied for last November 2020 (to open up phases one and two of the project site) is still under review by the federal government. We have finished up the further surveys and data requirement from the federal biologist and we are now waiting to hear back on next steps of our permit application.
We have connected with Kettle River contracting discussing a potential relationship to start crushing and stockpiling the most popular specifications of aggregate to begin initiation of retail sales together in 2022.
Renewable Forest License
All harvest deals in 2021 have been completed to date and we have approximately a third of our volume remaining to sell in the next two years. We have had some initial discussions with British Columbia Timber Sales and Canfor on the remaining volume we have to sell within our five year volume allocation and we will plan to negotiate another timber sale in 2022.
Utility Scale Solar Project
Project Site Update
Initial archeology work has now been completed on the project site and we are awaiting the full report to arrive so that we can share it with the Lands department to discuss any further work that may be required.
We are currently working on tracking down a land appraiser as this will be another step to complete in the lease requirements for the solar project site.
Energy Purchase Agreement Opportunities
We continue exploring private sector opportunities as we continue engagement with governments for an energy purchase agreement. Our Fortis partners are updating and narrowing in on a plant design the will create maximum power output combined with building and cost efficiencies. Now that the federal election is complete we will continue to lobby with our efforts directed at the federal and provincial government leaders.
Agriculture Food Production Project
ACE received notice in August that we were successful on receiving $12,000 for the second phase of provincial funding towards our food agriculture research and planning.
Next steps will be to narrow in on a greenhouse design concept along with feasibility and business planning. Ryan Phillips-Clement, in his new role as Business Development Manager, has taken the lead on this project and will continue focussing on completing a master project plan and budget.
Securing a location for our project remains a focus as well as we look at the infrastructure required and potential interconnection opportunities with the solar project and heat source solutions that are sustainable and affordable to the business model.
Lot 79
ACE has began engaging Allnorth engineering to work on a scope and budget to create a Request for Proposal to build the road access off the main airport highway into Lot 79. There is plenty of work to be done in the planning of this road and the Airport Manager and the City of Cranbrook continue to support us in developing these lands.
We have also had initial meetings with Colliers International about coming up with an updated Land development plan for Lot 79 as we plan the access road build. This will include re-visioning, due diligence, pro-forma development, management of entitlements and pre-construction, construction management and development accounting. ACE believes it is time to update the master plan for this chunk of land and to invest in the infrastructure required (and apply for bigger grants) to bring these lots available to lease for the public and to ultimately bring this business park to life.
ACE is applying for two grants to help support the development costs of this project. We have applied into the ETSI BC large project granting stream with $50K available for capacity support which will support two years of funding for a Project Manager. ACE has also discussed this project with INAC and we will be applying into phase one Community Opportunity Readiness Program to support initial development costs and Lot 79 planning update costs.
Adventure Park Feasibility
ACE plans to work alongside ʔaq̓am on visioning and planning with their multi-use sports complex feasibility study. We have also discussed keeping an eye on private land and buildings for sale in Cranbrook that could potentially house this business idea.
Annual General Meeting for 2020
ACE has set Tuesday November 9th as the 2020 Annual General Meeting. Invites and agendas will be coming out soon as we keep an eye on the provincial covid-19 rules.
