Canadian Premium Sand Inc. Provides Operational Update and Announces Plans for a US Facility

CALGARY, Alberta, Nov. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canadian Premium Sand Inc. (“CPS” or the “Company”) (TSXV: CPS) is pleased to provide an operational update for its pattern solar glass manufacturing facility in Selkirk, Manitoba (the “Selkirk Project”) and announces plans for a pattern solar glass manufacturing facility in the United States.

Operational Update

To advance the $272 million indications of support previously announced on September 18, 2024 for the Selkirk Project, the Company has submitted the detailed application for $100 million in non-dilutive financial support and is now entering the due diligence phase. The Company is working on formalizing elements of the $72 million financial support from the Province of Manitoba and has held discussions with Manitoba based indigenous groups related to their participation in the Selkirk Project of $100 million utilizing the federal Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program.

Plans for a US Facility and a Strategic Glass Manufacturing Partner

The implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act (the “IRA”) in the US has resulted in strong growth in solar installations and onshoring efforts within the solar supply-chain. As a result, solar panel manufacturing capacity is expected to increase from 12GW in 2022 to 52GW by the end of 2025. IRA policies also provide an incentive to end users of solar panels to maximize domestic content in solar panel installations, driving solar energy suppliers to locate and expand their manufacturing facilities in the US.         

CPS customers in the US have expressed a desire for domestic solar glass supply, in addition to the Company’s low-carbon supply from the Selkirk Project. To address this, the Company evaluated sites with existing and under-utilized buildings, utility supply, logistics infrastructure and environmental permits to support a pattern solar glass manufacturing operation in the US. With this evaluation complete, the Company has selected a site that meets these criteria providing the opportunity for a lower capital cost facility to supplement the Selkirk Project.

The Company is now preparing plans to re-purpose a former glass manufacturing facility in the US to produce 4GW per year of solar glass and is advancing discussions with a potential strategic glass manufacturing partner to jointly develop this site. This strategic partner would bring glass manufacturing expertise, purchasing power for equipment and raw materials and in-house engineering capability. Re-purposing an existing manufacturing facility with a strategic partner will allow CPS to de-risk both the development of the project and operation of the facility.

CPS has established a wholly owned US subsidiary, CPS Glass USA Corp., and has applied for the US Department of Energy’s investment tax credit. The allocation decision for this application is expected in Q1 2025.

Strong Competitive Positioning and Long-Term Strategy

The Company’s low-iron sand deposit in Manitoba can support capacity for both proposed facilities for over 20 years. With both facilities providing a total of 10GW of solar glass combined, the Company is preparing to become the largest supplier of patterned solar glass and the only vertically integrated glass manufacturer in North America.

With manufacturing operations in both Canada and the US, each offering two distinct value propositions to its customers, CPS is positioning itself to be the preferred supplier of solar glass, providing a complete solution to its customers:

• low-carbon supply of solar glass from the Selkirk Project,
• supply of domestic content solar glass from the US facility, and
• on-shoring of solar glass supply chain eliminating the cost, carbon emissions and logistical burden of the current Asia Pacific solar glass supply chain.
  

“Establishing 10GW supply of both low-carbon and US manufactured ultra clear pattern solar glass aligns CPS with the supply chain goals of our North American customers”, stated Glenn Leroux, President & CEO of CPS. “Alignment with a strategic glass manufacturing partner supports the execution of our North American strategy and vision.”

About Canadian Premium Sand Inc.

The Company is developing North American manufacturing capacity for ultra high-clarity pattern solar glass through multiple Company-owned facilities, utilizing high-purity low-iron silica sand from its wholly owned Wanipigow quarry leases. The Company’s low-carbon facility located in Selkirk, Manitoba will utilize renewable Manitoba hydroelectricity and produce 6GW of low-carbon solar glass. The Company’s facility located in the US will produce 4GW of domestic solar glass. With 10GW of annual proposed solar glass manufacturing capacity, the Company is well positioned to become the largest and preferred supplier in North America. The Company is a reporting issuer in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. Its shares trade on the TSXV under the symbol "CPS".

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking statements relating to, without limitation, expectations, intentions, plans and beliefs, including information as to the future events, results of operations and the Company’s future performance (both operational and financial) and business prospects. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “expects”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “plans”, “seeks”, “projects” or variations of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results “may” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. Such forward-looking statements reflect the Company's beliefs, estimates and opinions regarding its future growth, results of operations, future performance (both operational and financial), and business prospects and opportunities at the time such statements are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or circumstances should change. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions made by the Company that are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking statements pertaining, but not limited, to: the expectation that significant shareholder value will be created in 2025 by commercializing the Selkirk Project; the financing of the Selkirk Project and US facility; the anticipated market for the Company's patterned solar glass; future development plans; industry activity levels; industry conditions pertaining to the solar glass manufacturing industry; the ability of and manner by which the Company expects to meet its capital needs; and the Company's objectives, strategies and competitive strengths. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous current assumptions, known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from those anticipated by the Company and described in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking information and statements contained in this document speak only as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to publicly update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required pursuant to applicable laws.