Abakan, a publicly listed acquisition company, has planned to establish a joint research and development (R&D) centerfor Mesocoat wear resistant materials in Alberta, Canada.
The company has made this decision due to various reasons, including closenessto critical markets for its products; excellent opportunities for R&D in Alberta supported by the local government via the Alberta Innovates system for innovation; and the availability of technical staff and trained labor. In addition, the economic growth potential of Alberta and Canada combined with extremely favorable trade support and export financing has contributed to theAbakan’s decision.
Alberta operations will function under Mesocoat Technologies Canada (MTC), a subsidiary of Abakan. Once the operations are commenced, Abakan will partner with advanced materials team of Alberta Innovates Technology Futures (AITF) and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). MTCwill leverageworld-class research institutes in Alberta to hasten the development, evaluation and market entry of MesoCoat’s high performance and low-cost nanocomposite materials and cladding process into the mineral, mining and oil sands processing industries in Alberta and outer regions.
The investments in the Albertaoil sands industryis anticipated to grow consistently from $35 million per year to more than $1 billion per year, as the production of wear resistant materials will increase thrice in the next four years. This provides considerable growth opportunities for MesoCoat nanocomposite overlay materials in the market.