Late next month construction should be finished on a new $4.2 million storage grain condominium at Weyburn Inland Terminal on Highway 39 south. The timing couldn't be better for the multi-million dollar grain company, which announced substantial third-quarter earnings just last week.

"A while ago we asked farmers to come in and questioned them to see if they had any interest in more condominiums," says WIT president Claude Carles. "There was enough positive response, so we decided to build another one."

The new condo is now the fourth storage facility at the WIT site, which also includes the Pro-Pellet livestock and feed processing building, a fertilizer blending plant and chemical storage building. Other than the old government AgPro facility in Moose Jaw, Carles believes this would be the largest facility of its kind in Saskatchewan. The entire site will be capable of storing 4.2 million bushels or 110,000 metric tons of grain. The entire site is computer automated and any area of the property can easily be controlled from the main building.

"Space is very important to us," Carles added. "The more space we have and the more separations we have, the more opportunistic things we can offer our farmers."

Currently workers are putting in underground conveyors, finishing off the internal hoppers and working on the spouting at the top of the building. Once building construction is completed on the new condo, all of the electrical work and a computer network will have to be set up. Carles expects physical construction the building to be completed very shortly, with storage operations to begin in January.

WIT is also excited about its third-quarter results. Earnings are nearly doubled that of last year, with pre-tax earnings for more than $4.8 million, while after-tax earnings were $3.22 per share.

"Our goal is to make our company and our customers very successful," Carles noted. "That's where we're headed."

Along with the new storage facility, which is expected to be fully operational in January, Carles is hoping to have a new WIT history book released before Christmas. The book, written by Deana Driver of Regina, celebrates 25 years of service for the terminal.

"I began the process of interviewing people back in February," said Driver. "The book is ready to go to the printer and should be out before Christmas. I'm very happy to have been a part of this project. It's an interesting company to see."