ecoTECH Energy Group has listed its Lamming Mills property for sale west of McBride.
The Seattle-based public company has been promising to build a biomass power plant and aquaponics facility that would employ up to 350 people.
They had a job fair last October in McBride, where they collected more than 100 resumes, saying they hoped to break ground in spring 2012.
The company did not respond to our emails, but it announced in June that it would be seeking financing for a transmission line to McBride, a necessary component for their full-scale project.
The company hit a few bumps this summer after it was given a Cease Trade Order in July from the BC Securities Commission. The order was given because the company did not file material change reports to match the ones it had filed on the US market.
Under section 164(1) of the Securities Act, the Executive Director orders that all trading in the securities of the company cease until it files the required records and the Executive Director revokes the order.
The company recently listed their 53 acres of land located at the former Lamming Mills town site for sale. The listing price is $245,000. They reported paying an aggregate sum of $257,075 when they purchased it in March 2011. In their annual report, recently amended Aug. 27th, the company reported they were not current in servicing the mortgage note which was for $200,000.
“We are working on a satisfactory resolution to bring the loan current,” the report says. “The loss of this property would not have an adverse impact on (the company’s) ability to operate in the region.”
ecoTECH CEO Colin Hall did not respond to our question about how losing the property would impact future operations.
The company reported it had contracted out preliminary site clearing and subject to receiving project financing, was in a position to commence construction in the summer of 2012 with commercial operations projected for 2013. It also reported in a Sept. 6th release that construction on the property was underway.
The property sale listing says all offers will be considered.
The company has reported the receipt of an energy purchase agreement for the project has been delayed since September 2011. The company says this is primarily due to the BC government’s imposed review of BC Hydro’s proposed 3 -year rate increases. Additional land for this power plant would be purchased in the McBride area, and rights-of-ways established for the power-line once the EPA has been received, the report said.
ecoTECH hopes to build a combined self-contained $92 million Aquaponic Project, in addition to the power plant and power line projects. The stand-alone Aquaponics project would combine a self-contained 5 megawatts per hour biomass power plant, together with a fresh fish farming (aqua-culture) and a greenhouse vegetables facility hydroponics) using 100% organic processes, according to the company.
ecoTECH reported in January that it had entered into a 5 year supply purchase contract with Overwaitea Foods Ltd, to purchase a minimum $12 million of organic fish and vegetables per year, with full commercial operations projected to be $55 million per year.
The company says their proprietary ecoPHASER technology sets them apart as a biomass company. The company says their power stations can combine technologies to effectively process and convert biomass and other feedstocks, under environmentally friendly conditions, into electricity.
