Regens Metals is excited to be in its new building in southeast Estevan.
The company moved into the 6,000 square foot building on Oct. 22. Graham Fox, the business manager for Regens Metals, said the company has been looking to move into Estevan for some time; their previous home was the Bienfait landfill.
“It wasn’t as convenient or busy for our biggest customer base, which is here in Estevan, and this is our home, so we’re very happy about that,” said Fox.
The company has more space, he said, with more room to expand its reach and the scrap metal they can bring in. They have more shop space and more pieces of equipment they can install, which will allow them to do a lot of different things, and improve their efficiency.
“We have more space out in the yard, so we are able to bring in some new material handlers and sheers and things like that which are going to help a lot,” said Fox.
Instead of processing scrap metal into one or two piles, and then shipping it all together, they can separate it piece by piece into individual alloys, which allows the company to send it to different markets and hopefully get a better rate.
They do more recycling as well, so less metal products go to waste.
The building was constructed by local contractors, he said, and a lot of people played a part in constructing the building.
There is still some work that needs to be completed on the building, as they are still working on signage and lighting, and an electrician still needs to install some of the higher-end equipment that Regens Metals brought in as part of the move to the new building.
“We have this new space to help us process the scrap metal right here inside, so we’re not doing everything outside when it gets cold,” said Fox.
The company was able to operate well at the old building. They did the best they could at their former home, Fox said, but Regens Metals grew over the years, reached its capacity, and needed something new to expand.
About a dozen people work at Regens Metals, and they are very pleased with the building.
“There’s a lot more room for everybody, so safety has improved. We have pieces of equipment running in the shop, and nobody’s worried about bumping elbows with each other. Everybody’s happy to be inside, doing all of their work inside once it gets cold.”
Regens Metals primarily buys scrap metal from all possible sources. But they also perform site clean-ups for oilfield sites and farms.
“There are a lot of farms around here with an old combine out in the swamp or something, and we have the types of equipment that can go out there and pick it out very easily and really quickly,” said Fox.
Regens Metals started as a division of Regens Disposal in 2011. It has been its own operating entity for the past four years. When Regens Disposal was sold to Green for Life Environmental last year, Regens Metals remained open and under the ownership of Logan Baniulis, so it is still locally owned and operated.
