What’s the story behind that mysterious huge brown complex seen off the highway between Aldersyde and High River? I don’t know how many times, on trips to South Kananaskis, that I’ve passed by the place and asked myself that very thing. I never seemed find the time to stop…until now that is.
This is or actually was the site of the Magnesium Company of Canada (or MagCan), a state of the art facility built using (of course) a great deal of Government money. Opened in 1990 and closed not much more than a year later, during it’s brief existence it never came close to operating at full capacity. It never turned a profit and employment came no where near the levels promised.
The Magnesium ore was brought in by rail from a mine near Radium BC. Once ramped up, production was to be 30 tons of ingots per day. I am not sure if the fished product shipped by rail or by truck and I have no idea where the end customers were (but I’ll keep researching).
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ Scroll down for photos or to comment ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
The closing of the plant was blamed on low metal prices, the high Canadian dollar and higher than expected operating costs. No doubt the latter could be partly blamed on the long distances the product had to travel between the mine, plant and end user. I can’t imagine how this spot could be considered ideal for this facility.
The question being asked, is where did all the money go? Over 100 million in loan guarantees was paid by the Alberta Government. Only a few people know I am sure and I doubt they’ll talk. Some pockets must have been lined, and the whole thing reeks of a scheme to me.
When the plant closed, employees were given a small souvenir ingot of Magnesium along with their pay.
During the ensuing years the MagCan plant was used for a couple other industrial concerns, but they did not seem to last long. I actually visited the site in the 1990s in my truck driving days, delivering some pipes to the facility. But I never saw inside any buildings and don’t recall who the shipment was for. The grounds at the time of my visit were as empty as they are now. A mystery.
A current idea being tossed around is using the site for a natural gas fuelled power plant. But it’s only talk at this point.
Jump to 2012, Connie and I finally decide it’s time to pay a visit to the Magnesium Company of Canada plant. It feels like were are pulling up to Area 51 or maybe we’re in an X-Files episode. There is no one around, nothing, yet the buildings and grounds before us looks in perfect condition. It’s like they left yesterday, but it’s been 20 years! It’s eerie, nothing is disturbed, nothing is overgrown. A very strange experience. We walk around the perimeter fence expecting some security guard to show up, but the whole time we were alone.
I have no idea how the buildings were utilized, but they sure are stunning. And huge! They can be seen for kilometres in all directions and it dominates the skyline near the busy highway.
Rules of exploration: show respect, don’t knowingly trespass and take only pictures.
There is rail loading area is near the south end of the plant. Rail cars would get delivered using CPR’s MacLeod Subdivision branch. Now little used and nothing more than a spur off the Aldersyde Subdivision mainline, this line passes right by the plant and now ends a few kilometres south at a meat processing facility. This place is rail ready for the next tenant that takes it over (if that ever happens).
Numerous power lines enter the property and I can only image how much electricity it would take to process the Magnesium into metal.
A sign near the site says Saddlebrook Industrial Park.
I’d sure love to go inside, but I doubt the current owners, if they could be found, would be accommodating to a hobby explorer like me. So for now, we peek thought the fences and imagine what’s inside.
Magnesium has many uses, but most its most known application is as a special strong but lightweight metal used in automotive components.
I was told that a Division of Atco bought the building for pennies on the dollar. It became unpopular for The Province to keep footing the bill for maintenance, security, tax and it was liquidated. No doubt it changed hands after. It was rented for a time by a tire recycling company (Total Tire) owned by a friend of Ralph Klein’s. This friend was partners with Ralph in a fishing venture in Prince Rupert. The friend also owned a company Beau Valley (not Bow Valley)(but a Calgary Energy Company) You will recall that Ralph was Environment Minister that levied the $4 tire recycling tire. The Tire Board then handed out exclusive contracts. Very cozy.
So many interesting stories connected to this place and I’m sure there’s been a number of underhanded deals like this associated with it. Indeed. Thanks for sharing.
Ok, the Magnesium plant, it was supposed to be the answer to diversification in Alberta to make us less dependent on oil. Our premiers answer and therefore Government backed. The prototype plant was built in England and was successful but on a very small scale. The Plant had basically two backers, Alberta Natural Gas and an English firm. The process involved crushing white rock from Canmore area that had been trucked to Magcan in “B train” transports. The rock was crushed and then dropped into large “milk bottle” containers called reactors. The Magnesium was dissolved in chloride (a pure substance) it was then piped to Electrolytic cells at which point aluminum bus-bars were dropped into the cells (to attract the magnisium and separate it from the chloride and rock) where a high voltage of electricity was pushed thru the bus-bars. Thats where the plant failed as it took too much electricity to run thru the 1″ to 2″ thick aluminum bus-bars. When they first started the bus-bars they drained the electrical grid to north of Calgary where Calgary had a short “brown out”. Due to the high electrical consumption required, ALL rebar (in the construction process) had to be isolated ( one piece could not have contact with another piece to prevent grounding and deterioration of the re-bar itself) which was quite a feat.
After the chloride was used it was disposed off down a well that was located at the back of the property by the settling ponds. That well connected up to an oil deposit in a formation that was being pumped out all the way to Airdrie (you can still see the small oil pumpers working today). The idea was to send the chloride down the well which would move the oil in the formation to Airdrie as the formation dipped from Magcan to Airdrie.
After the first couple of attempts to start the plant up, the English firm saw the problem and backed out to minimize their losses leaving Alberta Natural Gas with the final bills to convince the Government to help pay for. Eventually ANG (Alberta Natural Gas) gave up and walked away from the plant. It took a couple of years later before the Government auctioned off the plant for a bargain and ANG bought it. To my knowledge there have been several companies renting parts of the plant for their purposes. I do not have any idea as to ownership of the plant today.
I did have wonderful pictures from start to finish of the construction but unfortunately, living in High River, they were lost in the flood of 2013.
Hope this sheds some light on the old Magcan plant 😊
Had to read this a couple times. Bob, this is Amazing and wow, that’s adding to the story. Brown outs? Now that’s a LOT of electricity! Interesting connection to the oil biz. I looked up recent ownership but came up flat. Oh, the loss of those pics. Sad. Thanks for commenting and do drop by often! This is the comment of the day!
Pretty neat to stumble across this article. I worked at Magcan when we received the news that the pin was being pulled. I had moved my wife to high river. Bought a house and had planned on settling down. It truly was an amazing place. I worked in E cells. It was a sad day when we got the call. I received 3 months severance I believe. We stuck around high river for another year then moved away. Always loved the area and the people. We were all fairly astounded that they were shutting it down. We were yoke there would be 2 more phases to be completed. We had barely even fired the place up. Not quite sure what they expected.
I’ve lived in High River my whole life (all 19 years), and I’ve not known the history behind the mag plant. I would love to get the opportunity to go inside and see everything!
Also, do you know who the current owners of the building are? I’ve heard Trans-Canada but I’m not too sure..
Thanks for commenting Andrew. Have been trying to get inside the place for eons but the owners always say no. They keep it locked up tight. It seems Trans-Canada still has an interest in the site, to some degree anyway. Remember, the place is private property, so view it from the fence.
This was one of Premier Don Getty’s blunders. There was a guarantee loan to build this structure and the loan was never recovered. Ralph Klein wrote off the debt.
Thanks for this article…my husband and I have always been intrigued by the mystic of what happened with the MagCan plant that was in operation for a nano second and then nothing. And there it sits.
Hi. I posted this earlier today but you must have inadvertently deleted it. I will try again. Thanks. David Kemery.
Here’s what I know about Magcan.
I would like to correct a few inaccuracies in your story. I began working at Magcan as a welder’s helper in January of 1990 so I have a bit of information about it. The ore did as you stated come from the Baymag mine in Radium BC but it came in by truck. I recall the company name was John Wolfe Contracting or something like that. They brought it in in end dump gravel trucks of different configurations. I recall a lot of tandems pulling quad axle wagons. The rail “loading” facility you pictured was actually the Chlorine gas unloading facility. The ore was unloaded on the North side of the plant on the East end of the tall portion of the building. If you look you can see a hopper leg much like those used in fertilizer and or grain facilities. The rock was crushed then ran up the leg to be distributed to the reactors inside where it was mixed with chlorine gas, Carbon Monoxide ( the CO was produced in the yellow building on the East end of the big structure) and other chemicals and heated to upwards of 900 degrees C. It absolutely used loads of power as the reactors were heated by huge Carbon electrodes. It produced molten magnesium that after the reactor was tapped would run down in to the Salt cells (750 C) then be pumped to the E cells (electrolytic). This was an interesting section of the building as there was a huge magnetic field running through that area. Walking thru there with a large steel pipe wrench held straight up from your hand became a battle to keep it upright. We had to leave credit cards and such in our lockers as it would wipe them clean. The process at this point floated the magnesium to the top and it was pumped out of the E cells and poured in small 75 lb ingots or large pig ingots. The west end of the building was for load out of trucks with the finished product. There was a lot of interest from car manufacturers like you said and we were producing good high grade magnesium but never got to the tonnage numbers needed to seal the deal. There was also some talk of a Magnesium plant being built somewhere in Eastern Canada and an issue with the U.S. and imposed tariffs on our product which contributed to the downfall as well. It is a bit unfair to say that it never made it to full capacity. You’re right, it didn’t but when I started there in 1990 construction was being wrapped up by Cana and we began the commissioning stage. During this time the process which was a new technology had to be fine tuned as well as many systems had to be repaired and or replaced as they weren’t working as well as they had planned. Being involved in Oilfield construction for the last 15+ years I have witnessed C & SU in numerous facilities and there is always changes that have to be made to streamline the process. A lot of these are tried and proven technologies and they still have issues. We had roughly one year to get it right and we had the door slammed in our faces. As for the location of the plant and its distance from the mine and end users as you put it, the underground geology for the deep injection well that was drilled in the southeast corner of the location was one of the reasons for this area being chosen. That and the access to shipping lanes, if you are familiar with the area you should know that if its leaving for the U.S. from southern Alberta it likely passes by on Highway 2 and on the “branch” rail line connection to the south as it has always been only difference now is that it no longer goes south to Fort Macleod but east through Blackie, Vulcan etc. This line was the mainline for CPR since 1961 when I was a born in High River and many years before. If you like seeing new and interesting things take a drive down south of High River to Brown’s Azure where the line used to run and you will be at the highest point on the line from Calgary to Fort Macleod as was told to me by my father. Just a little side trip down memory lane for me. But I digress. Then you talk of $100 million in loan guarantees and pockets being lined. The First phase was initially billed as a $125 million project so I’m pretty sure they didn’t build this huge facility without spending that $100 million. You say it was built using a lot of Government money, that’s no big secret. What you don’t say is that they were promised loans up to 1995 for second and third phase which would have put us at almost 500 full time permanent employees plus likely 200-300 subcontractors plus all the spinoff to the local suppliers. The second and third phase would have allowed us to produce the tonnage requirements that the car manufacturers were looking for. That was taken away and that signed the death knell for Magcan. They tried to come up with investors and ANG stepped up but couldn’t complete the deal. If I’m not mistaken a lot of this came about after the Pocklington Gainers strikes and the issue of loan guarantees became a hot topic after that fiasco. When we were told in May of 1991 that the plant would be closing we were given the opportunity to stay on for a little while during the shutdown phase or we could take our severance and leave. You saying we only got a souvenir ingot and our pay is a false statement. I received my ingot during my initial orientation with the company in March of 1990. Our severance was based on your position with the company. Being a second year apprentice by then I received 2 months pay. Wasn’t a lot considering I went immediately to school in Medicine Hat for 2 months and EI was denied. When I came out of school I started at zero with 3 kids and my wife pregnant with twins.( because we were looking at a full time career job with Magcan we had decided to have another child and were blessed with twins) This shutdown was a huge blow to many people as a lot of people quit full time permanent jobs elsewhere in Canada to come participate in what was told to be a lifetime career opportunity. I will say the Magnesium Company of Canada was far and away my finest employer since I started in the working world packing groceries at the old IGA in High River up to including all my years in transportation, agriculture and construction. I also take offense to you saying it reeks of a scheme. I knew people in the hierarchy of the company including the president, who had invested their whole financial lives in Magcan and they lost it all. Good on you for trekking and exploring but I wouldn’t be as quick to make condemning statements about stuff you obviously don’t know as much about as you would like to think. I lived Magcan for almost 1 1/2 years and it wasn’t the grand ripoff scheme you spoke of. A lot of people local and otherwise prospered and then suffered when it all fell apart. Don’t try to sully the image of what was accomplished there. It will remain a good memory for me and I’m sure many more feel the same.
Thanks so much for commenting. It’s so nice to hear from those connected to the plant, especially at such an intimate level. Fascinating stuff here. Lots of it!
Your earlier comment made it through okay, by the way, but I apologize if our system made it look like it disappeared (gosh, after all that work!). Sorry! It was there all the time. We’ve removed your phone number and email, for privacy reasons.
After writing the article, we realized we made some technical errors. Minor stuff really, for the most part. We’re hoping to revisit the subject (working on it as we speak) and will correct any stuff like that then. We’re sympathetic to the challenges those working at the plant faced trying to get it into full production. Still, regardless of how and why, it never reached sustainable levels. Unfair to say that? No, it’s the truth, but by no means is a shot at those who tried to make that happen. They did their best. We get that. They were working against the odds.
The High River-MacLeod railway line, by the time the plant came on the scene, was local only with no through freight. CPR timetables from the time, of which this author has some, mention that cars associated with the MagCan were not to travel south of the plant. Presumably then, they headed south using the parallel Alydersyde-Lethbridge line to the east.
We heard about that deep well being the reason that the plant’s location. Speaking with some people associated with the MagCan firm, that was a fabricated “clincher” to convince various local government bodies to get on board. There was, apparently, many, many better places to put the plant, logistically wise, but they went where the money was. Where “they” (the bad guys) could milk it best. Those same people we chatted with, all higher-ups whose names appear on official firm documents, mention, off the record of course, that several million of that 100 million funding went “missing”. I spoke with many former blue collar workers at the plant and all say they got a pay cheque, an ingot and that’s it. If severance was included, and no one we spoke with mentioned it, I guess it could fall under the pay statement.
Not saying everyone associated with the plant was up to no good. No, not at all. But people higher up, a small number of them, indeed were. We’ve heard stuff that’d make your blood boil and given we’ve heard it from many, we can say there’re likely a good level of truth to it all. It was clear, the plant was a money grab for some, and everyone else, you, other dedicated workers, and many others were left wondering what happened. No offence to you or them. Not for a second. How could one know?
Having spoke with many people connected to the plant, I can say we know more than you might give us credit for. No offence, we’re touching on something close to your heart. Still, we’d like to revisit the subject, as we mentioned earlier, to present a better version of the story. We know more now, much more, even before your comment, and are better journalists compared to when it was penned back in 2012.
Thanks again David, we appreciate it. Glad you made it out okay!
Rumour has it Peter Pockington(sp?) who was involved with Edmonton sports teams also involved with the gov. In the building before everything went by the way. I think he was charged, but it ended with a slap on the hand. You might find out more by checking handsard on the gov of AB website.
That article was written some years ago (and admittedly deserves a HUGE rewrite), but I don’t recall hearing his name associated with the plant. One thing is for certain though, Pocklington’s business dealings were often questionable, and since he was quite active in the province around the time the MagCan operation was commissioned, it’d be easy to suspect he had some part in that sticky mess. It was right up his alley!
I worked on the demolition of the plant which was sold for pennies on the dollar. Specifically the electrical demolition. What you see now is just the shell. We removed tanks vessels pipe and structural steel of every shape. The tall part of the building is more than 13 stories tall. There were other outbuildings as well which were.broken down and sold. There were 8 different reactors and everyone had a different configuration which was a little suspect to those of us working on it. The electrical company that manufactured the wiring happened to be owned by our then premiers family. I was told at the time as.a.young labourer that the wire used was the most expensive that you could buy and that was very evident when we removed one type that was $1200 per linear foot. We had to measure mark and sort all of it and eventually some Iranian businessmen came and bought most of it as well as transformers and the PCB filled oil from them. Might be vandals have stolen more…but most was removed and sold by a company that had payed for the rights to.do so. We also sold 4 million dollars of aluminum buss bars used to run the massive amounts of electricity to the USA. What I heard is the Texas buisnessmen took the process and moved it to Mexico where they started operations again. As for the location it was chosen by the rock formation deep underground and the well already drilled before construction to inject the eventuall hazardous waste from the process. I could tell stories about that demo for days. It was quite the process and got me started in the electrical field. It was a huge cost and a huge loss to taxpayers for some very shady dealings that opened my young eyes to the corrupt actions of government.
Very interesting and thanks for sharing. We’ve heard from many involved, variously, in the construction and decommissioning of the plant. All had a LOT to say, for sure, and all mentioned seeing “funny business” of some sort or another taking place. We heard about the well before, but any info we uncovered just hinted at it, without going into detail of its true purpose or function and that’s why it didn’t make mention in the article. Still, we’ve heard from people, former higher-ups in the organization, who claim nothing but money decided the location of the plant, which seems to be one the one thing agreed by all, suggesting the well’s location was only a convenient excuse.
Hi Chris, do you know who the owners are? I would like to plan an indoor acrobatic photoshoot with some models at an abandoned warehouse/facility, and this place is my dream location. Any chance you could forward on my email or send me their contact info? Please reply to my email!
I’ve been in the building several times in the past few years. It is owned by Trans Canada as mentioned it was purchased as a potential new site for a power plant. The inside of the building is in ruff shape. All the copper has been stripped from the building by crooks and it has been heavily vandalized. It has been the home of some owls and pigeons.
Drove by it today cause as many I was very interested in the place. I did notice many TransCanada pipeline signs, that is why it probably looks well maintained as its probably owned by them, will need to do more digging.
Hello my name is Aaron Suchy, a group of us are very interested In the magnesium building and grounds. I would like to speak to you about it if possible.
Years ago I worked on bringing MagCan to Alberta, specifically to the Crowsnest Pass… The Company Reps came from Texas…But the financial backing came from a Company from Monte Carlo… The location chosen was in my opinion purely political. And the rest as they say is history.
I worked at the Magnesium Plant in the laboratory. Was a very sad day when it was announced the plant was shutting down. The process originated in England in a pilot study and the High River plant was built on a much larger scale. Some suggested the process should have been evaluated at a mid scale facility but I am sure there were a lot of other unforeseen factors that we weren’t aware of to justify abandoning the project.
Wow, great story and thanks for sharing. It sounds like they bite off more than they could chew and I’m sure everyone associated with the plant must have known it was doomed to failure.
The stock car track is directly across the river to the east. It was shut down because of many different fights with the MD of foothills over permitting. Really to bad it was a fun place to take the kids.
Western tire shredders was actually renting in there around 2001, I delivered tires for them to be shredded and shipped out until it went under and I believe at that time Transcanada pipeline was the owner of the building
We heard of the tire shredding concern, but only after the article was penned. We need to revisit the subject, to clear up omissions and the like. We know a lot more of the place today than we did then. We’re better researchers and better writers now. Thanks for posting!
Interesting. I’m newly resident in High River. Wondered what this place was. And it does look well maintained. Also an abandoned stock car speedway around there somewhere.
In the mid 1990s I got to inside the plant. I delivered some pipe. At that time there was a guard stationed there, but I am pretty sure there isn’t one now. The place has a real Area 51 or X Files vibe about it. I am not sure of the speedway you are speaking of. I know of the one in Shepard (recently closed) and some others into Calgary from the 1970s (long built over), but nothing else.
It's a strange curiosity in south Kananaskis, there on a hillside and we have no idea who created it. We asked around and no one's completely sure about its history. In the past it showed the Canada 100 logo from 1967 but in 2017 someone changed it to reflect the country's 150th.
That's our friend Emily from DanOCan.com having a look.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
April 13th 2024, the Beer Parlour Project visited the Viking Hotel, Viking Alberta and it too was an awesome time. There's Rob Pohl with his curious view camera and in the other photo Chris is seen interviewing local character Doug.
The Viking dates back to the 1930s and replaced a hotel on this same lot, which had earlier burned down.
Incidentally April 13th is also Chris and my 28th anniversary. Chris said he forgot this when scheduling this but that's fine and it doesn't matter where we celebrate but that we celebrate.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2024. Posted by Connie.
April 12th 2024, the Beer Parlour Project visited the Warspite Hotel, Warspite Alberta and it was a great success. They put up our sticker and look for it if you ever drop by. This will be another chapter in what will be a multi-year adventure documenting small town hotels all over the west. We chat with owners, patrons, old timers, local characters and we learn about the building too.
It's believed this one is 100 years old in 2024 and we'll confirm details during the research phase done later.
When we're done we'll have a huge collection of digital and film photos, plus voice recorded interviews for an art exhibit and a book is likely.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2024. Posted by Connie.
This little stone house was built in the 1910s and while it's not exactly clear when last occupied, research suggests it was empty only a couple decades later. This is a dry area of the Alberta and most settlers moved out by the '30s. Trees in back were planted by the folks that lived here and there's no others around as far as the eye can see. In fact, there's nothing but natural prairie in every direction. When the word "remote" comes up, this is the place they're speaking of.
Look to the comments for more info and to see a stone smokehouse also on the property 👇
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
The hardware business is long gone but their old sign from about a century ago remains. We were doing a little walk-about in Three Hills and had a tip to look here. It's little things like this that we love the most, hidden reminders of things that came before and clues to the past that aren't so obvious.
More info in the comments👇
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2023. Posted by Connie.
The Canadian Pacific Railway at Summit Lake Crowsnest Pass in 1983 and 2023. The trains still run, but the railyard and associated infrastructure is a distant memory. Haze in the now photo is from distant forest fires. The old Summit Hotel can be seen in back in both and it's one of the few things still standing here from earlier times.
The Then photo come thanks to the John Bjorklund collection at the Center for Railroad Photography & Art and is used with permission. They sent us others and we'll hopefully be putting them to use later this year.
Go to the comments for more info 👇
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Posted by Connie.
Thanks to the The Val Family for making this post possible. If you like what we do and want to support this ongoing project (12 years now), go here: https://www.BIGDoer.com/help-the-society/
Javascript is required for this site to function. Please enable it in your browser settings and refresh this page.
Please log-in to continue... This allows unrestricted access to every post @BIGDoer.com, popups are eliminated, commenting is on and the "contact us" page is enabled.
Your social site may send you a routine notice of login.
Or signup, here: Subscriber Register ___ BIGDoer.com: Serving up POP HISTORY & other McFun!…(Mmmm, yummy bite-sized pieces.) One million plus words & tens of thousands of photos!
I was told that a Division of Atco bought the building for pennies on the dollar. It became unpopular for The Province to keep footing the bill for maintenance, security, tax and it was liquidated. No doubt it changed hands after. It was rented for a time by a tire recycling company (Total Tire) owned by a friend of Ralph Klein’s. This friend was partners with Ralph in a fishing venture in Prince Rupert. The friend also owned a company Beau Valley (not Bow Valley)(but a Calgary Energy Company) You will recall that Ralph was Environment Minister that levied the $4 tire recycling tire. The Tire Board then handed out exclusive contracts. Very cozy.
So many interesting stories connected to this place and I’m sure there’s been a number of underhanded deals like this associated with it. Indeed. Thanks for sharing.
Ok, the Magnesium plant, it was supposed to be the answer to diversification in Alberta to make us less dependent on oil. Our premiers answer and therefore Government backed. The prototype plant was built in England and was successful but on a very small scale. The Plant had basically two backers, Alberta Natural Gas and an English firm. The process involved crushing white rock from Canmore area that had been trucked to Magcan in “B train” transports. The rock was crushed and then dropped into large “milk bottle” containers called reactors. The Magnesium was dissolved in chloride (a pure substance) it was then piped to Electrolytic cells at which point aluminum bus-bars were dropped into the cells (to attract the magnisium and separate it from the chloride and rock) where a high voltage of electricity was pushed thru the bus-bars. Thats where the plant failed as it took too much electricity to run thru the 1″ to 2″ thick aluminum bus-bars. When they first started the bus-bars they drained the electrical grid to north of Calgary where Calgary had a short “brown out”. Due to the high electrical consumption required, ALL rebar (in the construction process) had to be isolated ( one piece could not have contact with another piece to prevent grounding and deterioration of the re-bar itself) which was quite a feat.
After the chloride was used it was disposed off down a well that was located at the back of the property by the settling ponds. That well connected up to an oil deposit in a formation that was being pumped out all the way to Airdrie (you can still see the small oil pumpers working today). The idea was to send the chloride down the well which would move the oil in the formation to Airdrie as the formation dipped from Magcan to Airdrie.
After the first couple of attempts to start the plant up, the English firm saw the problem and backed out to minimize their losses leaving Alberta Natural Gas with the final bills to convince the Government to help pay for. Eventually ANG (Alberta Natural Gas) gave up and walked away from the plant. It took a couple of years later before the Government auctioned off the plant for a bargain and ANG bought it. To my knowledge there have been several companies renting parts of the plant for their purposes. I do not have any idea as to ownership of the plant today.
I did have wonderful pictures from start to finish of the construction but unfortunately, living in High River, they were lost in the flood of 2013.
Hope this sheds some light on the old Magcan plant 😊
Thanks, Bob Roddy
Had to read this a couple times. Bob, this is Amazing and wow, that’s adding to the story. Brown outs? Now that’s a LOT of electricity! Interesting connection to the oil biz. I looked up recent ownership but came up flat. Oh, the loss of those pics. Sad. Thanks for commenting and do drop by often! This is the comment of the day!
Pretty neat to stumble across this article.
I worked at Magcan when we received the news that the pin was being pulled. I had moved my wife to high river. Bought a house and had planned on settling down. It truly was an amazing place. I worked in E cells. It was a sad day when we got the call. I received 3 months severance I believe. We stuck around high river for another year then moved away. Always loved the area and the people. We were all fairly astounded that they were shutting it down. We were yoke there would be 2 more phases to be completed. We had barely even fired the place up. Not quite sure what they expected.
Very cool story there! And heartbreaking too. So much staked on the opening of the place, so many lives in turmoil on its closing.
I’ve lived in High River my whole life (all 19 years), and I’ve not known the history behind the mag plant. I would love to get the opportunity to go inside and see everything!
Also, do you know who the current owners of the building are? I’ve heard Trans-Canada but I’m not too sure..
Thanks!!
Andrew Roe
High River
Thanks for commenting Andrew. Have been trying to get inside the place for eons but the owners always say no. They keep it locked up tight. It seems Trans-Canada still has an interest in the site, to some degree anyway. Remember, the place is private property, so view it from the fence.
This was one of Premier Don Getty’s blunders. There was a guarantee loan to build this structure and the loan was never recovered. Ralph Klein wrote off the debt.
What a cluster…
It is Pocklington btw (there’s an L in there).
Thanks for this article…my husband and I have always been intrigued by the mystic of what happened with the MagCan plant that was in operation for a nano second and then nothing. And there it sits.
Yes, with an L. Yup, the plant lasted so little in time. A sad tale really.
Hi. I posted this earlier today but you must have inadvertently deleted it. I will try again.
Thanks.
David Kemery.
Here’s what I know about Magcan.
I would like to correct a few inaccuracies in your story. I began working at Magcan as a welder’s helper in January of 1990 so I have a bit of information about it. The ore did as you stated come from the Baymag mine in Radium BC but it came in by truck. I recall the company name was John Wolfe Contracting or something like that. They brought it in in end dump gravel trucks of different configurations. I recall a lot of tandems pulling quad axle wagons. The rail “loading” facility you pictured was actually the Chlorine gas unloading facility. The ore was unloaded on the North side of the plant on the East end of the tall portion of the building. If you look you can see a hopper leg much like those used in fertilizer and or grain facilities. The rock was crushed then ran up the leg to be distributed to the reactors inside where it was mixed with chlorine gas, Carbon Monoxide ( the CO was produced in the yellow building on the East end of the big structure) and other chemicals and heated to upwards of 900 degrees C. It absolutely used loads of power as the reactors were heated by huge Carbon electrodes. It produced molten magnesium that after the reactor was tapped would run down in to the Salt cells (750 C) then be pumped to the E cells (electrolytic). This was an interesting section of the building as there was a huge magnetic field running through that area. Walking thru there with a large steel pipe wrench held straight up from your hand became a battle to keep it upright. We had to leave credit cards and such in our lockers as it would wipe them clean. The process at this point floated the magnesium to the top and it was pumped out of the E cells and poured in small 75 lb ingots or large pig ingots. The west end of the building was for load out of trucks with the finished product. There was a lot of interest from car manufacturers like you said and we were producing good high grade magnesium but never got to the tonnage numbers needed to seal the deal. There was also some talk of a Magnesium plant being built somewhere in Eastern Canada and an issue with the U.S. and imposed tariffs on our product which contributed to the downfall as well.
It is a bit unfair to say that it never made it to full capacity. You’re right, it didn’t but when I started there in 1990 construction was being wrapped up by Cana and we began the commissioning stage. During this time the process which was a new technology had to be fine tuned as well as many systems had to be repaired and or replaced as they weren’t working as well as they had planned. Being involved in Oilfield construction for the last 15+ years I have witnessed C & SU in numerous facilities and there is always changes that have to be made to streamline the process. A lot of these are tried and proven technologies and they still have issues. We had roughly one year to get it right and we had the door slammed in our faces.
As for the location of the plant and its distance from the mine and end users as you put it, the underground geology for the deep injection well that was drilled in the southeast corner of the location was one of the reasons for this area being chosen. That and the access to shipping lanes, if you are familiar with the area you should know that if its leaving for the U.S. from southern Alberta it likely passes by on Highway 2 and on the “branch” rail line connection to the south as it has always been only difference now is that it no longer goes south to Fort Macleod but east through Blackie, Vulcan etc. This line was the mainline for CPR since 1961 when I was a born in High River and many years before. If you like seeing new and interesting things take a drive down south of High River to Brown’s Azure where the line used to run and you will be at the highest point on the line from Calgary to Fort Macleod as was told to me by my father. Just a little side trip down memory lane for me. But I digress.
Then you talk of $100 million in loan guarantees and pockets being lined. The First phase was initially billed as a $125 million project so I’m pretty sure they didn’t build this huge facility without spending that $100 million.
You say it was built using a lot of Government money, that’s no big secret. What you don’t say is that they were promised loans up to 1995 for second and third phase which would have put us at almost 500 full time permanent employees plus likely 200-300 subcontractors plus all the spinoff to the local suppliers. The second and third phase would have allowed us to produce the tonnage requirements that the car manufacturers were looking for. That was taken away and that signed the death knell for Magcan. They tried to come up with investors and ANG stepped up but couldn’t complete the deal. If I’m not mistaken a lot of this came about after the Pocklington Gainers strikes and the issue of loan guarantees became a hot topic after that fiasco.
When we were told in May of 1991 that the plant would be closing we were given the opportunity to stay on for a little while during the shutdown phase or we could take our severance and leave. You saying we only got a souvenir ingot and our pay is a false statement. I received my ingot during my initial orientation with the company in March of 1990. Our severance was based on your position with the company. Being a second year apprentice by then I received 2 months pay. Wasn’t a lot considering I went immediately to school in Medicine Hat for 2 months and EI was denied. When I came out of school I started at zero with 3 kids and my wife pregnant with twins.( because we were looking at a full time career job with Magcan we had decided to have another child and were blessed with twins) This shutdown was a huge blow to many people as a lot of people quit full time permanent jobs elsewhere in Canada to come participate in what was told to be a lifetime career opportunity. I will say the Magnesium Company of Canada was far and away my finest employer since I started in the working world packing groceries at the old IGA in High River up to including all my years in transportation, agriculture and construction. I also take offense to you saying it reeks of a scheme. I knew people in the hierarchy of the company including the president, who had invested their whole financial lives in Magcan and they lost it all.
Good on you for trekking and exploring but I wouldn’t be as quick to make condemning statements about stuff you obviously don’t know as much about as you would like to think.
I lived Magcan for almost 1 1/2 years and it wasn’t the grand ripoff scheme you spoke of.
A lot of people local and otherwise prospered and then suffered when it all fell apart. Don’t try to sully the image of what was accomplished there. It will remain a good memory for me and I’m sure many more feel the same.
David Kemery
High River, AB.
Hi David,
Thanks so much for commenting. It’s so nice to hear from those connected to the plant, especially at such an intimate level. Fascinating stuff here. Lots of it!
Your earlier comment made it through okay, by the way, but I apologize if our system made it look like it disappeared (gosh, after all that work!). Sorry! It was there all the time. We’ve removed your phone number and email, for privacy reasons.
After writing the article, we realized we made some technical errors. Minor stuff really, for the most part. We’re hoping to revisit the subject (working on it as we speak) and will correct any stuff like that then. We’re sympathetic to the challenges those working at the plant faced trying to get it into full production. Still, regardless of how and why, it never reached sustainable levels. Unfair to say that? No, it’s the truth, but by no means is a shot at those who tried to make that happen. They did their best. We get that. They were working against the odds.
The High River-MacLeod railway line, by the time the plant came on the scene, was local only with no through freight. CPR timetables from the time, of which this author has some, mention that cars associated with the MagCan were not to travel south of the plant. Presumably then, they headed south using the parallel Alydersyde-Lethbridge line to the east.
We heard about that deep well being the reason that the plant’s location. Speaking with some people associated with the MagCan firm, that was a fabricated “clincher” to convince various local government bodies to get on board. There was, apparently, many, many better places to put the plant, logistically wise, but they went where the money was. Where “they” (the bad guys) could milk it best. Those same people we chatted with, all higher-ups whose names appear on official firm documents, mention, off the record of course, that several million of that 100 million funding went “missing”. I spoke with many former blue collar workers at the plant and all say they got a pay cheque, an ingot and that’s it. If severance was included, and no one we spoke with mentioned it, I guess it could fall under the pay statement.
Not saying everyone associated with the plant was up to no good. No, not at all. But people higher up, a small number of them, indeed were. We’ve heard stuff that’d make your blood boil and given we’ve heard it from many, we can say there’re likely a good level of truth to it all. It was clear, the plant was a money grab for some, and everyone else, you, other dedicated workers, and many others were left wondering what happened. No offence to you or them. Not for a second. How could one know?
Having spoke with many people connected to the plant, I can say we know more than you might give us credit for. No offence, we’re touching on something close to your heart. Still, we’d like to revisit the subject, as we mentioned earlier, to present a better version of the story. We know more now, much more, even before your comment, and are better journalists compared to when it was penned back in 2012.
Thanks again David, we appreciate it. Glad you made it out okay!
Rumour has it Peter Pockington(sp?) who was involved with Edmonton sports teams also involved with the gov. In the building before everything went by the way. I think he was charged, but it ended with a slap on the hand. You might find out more by checking handsard on the gov of AB website.
That article was written some years ago (and admittedly deserves a HUGE rewrite), but I don’t recall hearing his name associated with the plant. One thing is for certain though, Pocklington’s business dealings were often questionable, and since he was quite active in the province around the time the MagCan operation was commissioned, it’d be easy to suspect he had some part in that sticky mess. It was right up his alley!
I worked on the demolition of the plant which was sold for pennies on the dollar. Specifically the electrical demolition. What you see now is just the shell. We removed tanks vessels pipe and structural steel of every shape. The tall part of the building is more than 13 stories tall. There were other outbuildings as well which were.broken down and sold. There were 8 different reactors and everyone had a different configuration which was a little suspect to those of us working on it. The electrical company that manufactured the wiring happened to be owned by our then premiers family. I was told at the time as.a.young labourer that the wire used was the most expensive that you could buy and that was very evident when we removed one type that was $1200 per linear foot. We had to measure mark and sort all of it and eventually some Iranian businessmen came and bought most of it as well as transformers and the PCB filled oil from them. Might be vandals have stolen more…but most was removed and sold by a company that had payed for the rights to.do so. We also sold 4 million dollars of aluminum buss bars used to run the massive amounts of electricity to the USA. What I heard is the Texas buisnessmen took the process and moved it to Mexico where they started operations again. As for the location it was chosen by the rock formation deep underground and the well already drilled before construction to inject the eventuall hazardous waste from the process. I could tell stories about that demo for days. It was quite the process and got me started in the electrical field. It was a huge cost and a huge loss to taxpayers for some very shady dealings that opened my young eyes to the corrupt actions of government.
Very interesting and thanks for sharing. We’ve heard from many involved, variously, in the construction and decommissioning of the plant. All had a LOT to say, for sure, and all mentioned seeing “funny business” of some sort or another taking place. We heard about the well before, but any info we uncovered just hinted at it, without going into detail of its true purpose or function and that’s why it didn’t make mention in the article. Still, we’ve heard from people, former higher-ups in the organization, who claim nothing but money decided the location of the plant, which seems to be one the one thing agreed by all, suggesting the well’s location was only a convenient excuse.
Is it for sale and who would I contact?
That’s a big chunk of land! I’ll pass your contact info along to the owners.
Hi Chris, do you know who the owners are? I would like to plan an indoor acrobatic photoshoot with some models at an abandoned warehouse/facility, and this place is my dream location. Any chance you could forward on my email or send me their contact info? Please reply to my email!
I’ve sent you an email. This place, I’m afraid, is locked up tight and patrolled and watched.
I’ve been in the building several times in the past few years. It is owned by Trans Canada as mentioned it was purchased as a potential new site for a power plant. The inside of the building is in ruff shape. All the copper has been stripped from the building by crooks and it has been heavily vandalized. It has been the home of some owls and pigeons.
Wow, I’d love to see the inside. This building has kept my attention since the first time I saw it in the early 1990s.
Drove by it today cause as many I was very interested in the place. I did notice many TransCanada pipeline signs, that is why it probably looks well maintained as its probably owned by them, will need to do more digging.
Interesting. We didn’t see them last time we passed the plant, so they must be recent.
Hello my name is Aaron Suchy, a group of us are very interested In the magnesium building and grounds. I would like to speak to you about it if possible.
Sure, drop me a line at chrisbigdoer@gmail.com and I’d be happy to speak with you.
Years ago I worked on bringing MagCan to Alberta, specifically to the Crowsnest Pass… The Company Reps came from Texas…But the financial backing came from a Company from Monte Carlo… The location chosen was in my opinion purely political. And the rest as they say is history.
Oh that’s interesting! Backroom politics. Thanks for sharing.
I worked at the Magnesium Plant in the laboratory. Was a very sad day when it was announced the plant was shutting down. The process originated in England in a pilot study and the High River plant was built on a much larger scale. Some suggested the process should have been evaluated at a mid scale facility but I am sure there were a lot of other unforeseen factors that we weren’t aware of to justify abandoning the project.
Wow, great story and thanks for sharing. It sounds like they bite off more than they could chew and I’m sure everyone associated with the plant must have known it was doomed to failure.
The stock car track is directly across the river to the east. It was shut down because of many different fights with the MD of foothills over permitting. Really to bad it was a fun place to take the kids.
Funny, we’re scheduled to do a write up on that race track.
I remember the site being used for the tire recycle, I think around the turn of the century.
Thanks, I did not know that.
Western tire shredders was actually renting in there around 2001, I delivered tires for them to be shredded and shipped out until it went under and I believe at that time Transcanada pipeline was the owner of the building
We heard of the tire shredding concern, but only after the article was penned. We need to revisit the subject, to clear up omissions and the like. We know a lot more of the place today than we did then. We’re better researchers and better writers now. Thanks for posting!
Wow that is neat! I never knew about this place.
Interesting. I’m newly resident in High River. Wondered what this place was. And it does look well maintained. Also an abandoned stock car speedway around there somewhere.
In the mid 1990s I got to inside the plant. I delivered some pipe. At that time there was a guard stationed there, but I am pretty sure there isn’t one now. The place has a real Area 51 or X Files vibe about it. I am not sure of the speedway you are speaking of. I know of the one in Shepard (recently closed) and some others into Calgary from the 1970s (long built over), but nothing else.
I believe the race track was across the river by the auction market (not sure if it’s still open either)
Yes, but it’s been closed for a while now.
I’ve passed by this building countless times and often wondered what it was about. Good article! What a huge debacle.
Huge debacle might be an understatement!