Like most licensed producers in Canada, Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NYSE: ACB; TSX: ACB; Frankfurt: 21P) is currently placing a major focus on expanding production capabilities to cover shortfalls in legal recreational and medical supply.
In working towards that goal, the company is currently constructing the new Aurora Sun cultivation facility in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
Originally planned for 1.2 million sq. ft of production capacity, today Aurora announced that number has been bumped up to 1.62 million with a variety of upgrades and additions in the works.
Aurora Sun is based off the design of the existing Aurora Sky greenhouse in Leduc County, with all upcoming greenhouse projects utilizing this style now dubbed “Sky class” facilities.
The construction update today reveals a significantly increased scale with Sun, including 37 separate growing rooms. Individual rooms are expected to be licensed by Health Canada and operational before construction is completed on the entire facility.
Chief Executive Officer Terry Booth issued this statement about the construction update and a need to increase capacity quickly:
In addition to the extra grow rooms, Booth stated the Sun facility will differentiate itself from other cultivation outlets by increasing automation to lower production costs and increase efficiency of planting, moving, harvesting, and packaging the end product.
New drying systems have also been announced to reduce the amount of time between harvesting and delivering product to retail outlets. The next phase of construction expected to be completed by the end of May 2019 as the greenhouse’s glass is installed.
Aurora is currently in the process of drastically increasing production capacity to meet demand from global markets beyond recreational and medical consumers in Canada.
The company recently began the process of selling cannabis oils to German pharmacies in addition to providing dried flower products through Aurora Deutschland. Back in February, Aurora additionally announced a 51% acquisition of Portuguese medical marijuana company Gaia Pharm Lda in another move towards increased international expansion.
Besides the current Sun construction ongoing in Alberta, Aurora is also expanding another Sky class facility named Aurora Nordic in Denmark.
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