Major economic announcement expected at Form-Tech Machining today

A major economic announcement is planned for this afternoon in Medicine Hat, several sources have told the News.

An invite to a noon-hour barbecue at Form-Tech Machining in Brier Park promises live entertainment and a special announcement.

The principals won’t discuss the content before hand, though it could involve the next stages of the company’s business relationship with Regina-based Atlantis Research Laboratories.

The two firms entered a two-year agreement in 2015 to locally manufacture oilpatch equipment that limits emissions.

The enterprise earned high praise from Alberta Economic Development and Trade Minister Deron Bilous during a visit and tour of the facility last summer.

This summer it earned an $800,000 grant from the province’s Emissions Reduction Alberta agency for field testing the product with major oilpatch producers Cenovus and Husky Energy.

Invest Medicine Hat, the city’s economic development contractor, said in recent marketing material that the partnership is ready to grow between the Hat-based fullservice fabrication shop and Atlantis.

Recent hiring has brought the workforce to about 40, it stated.

Several city councillors have similarly told residents via social media that there would be a major announcement this week.

The Atlantis “PureJet” system works to more efficiently burn methane that is released or flared from oil and gas exploration or at storage batteries.

Reducing amounts of that gas, considered 25 times stronger than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, is a key strategy for federal and provincial governments in reaching climate control targets.

The company also has an aerospace wing and is working on developing jet propulsion systems.