How One Prefab Steel Building Powers a Key Link in Canada’s Oil & Gas / Mining Sector

Deep within the heart of rural Alberta in Glenevis is a massive steel building dedicated to climate control with a quiet mission. Her name is Big Molly. More than any typical cold steel storage building, Big Molly is a critical-mission screener facility that serves one of Canada's most crucial and dynamic industries: oil and gas.

What Is a Fracking Sand Screener and Why Is It Important?

At more than 18,000 square feet, Big Molly is a mining facility in Glenevis, Lac Ste. Anne County, which works hard for Alberta’s oil and gas sector. She’s a custom-built structure engineered with the highest-powered sand-sifting equipment utilized in hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Fracking involves injecting clean, correctly sized silica sand (also known as proppant or frac sand) into the fractures in the rock to keep them open and allow the flow of oil and gas. Previously, most of the frac sand in Alberta was imported from the United States, but when a huge deposit was discovered on an Alberta farm, the potential for setting up a local processing plant was clear. And MSC got the call.

 In progress frac sand processing screener building.

Personalized Steel Structure Tailored for Heavy Equipment

"This was our first fracking sand plant we've ever built," says Corey Ivanitz, Owner and Project Developer at MSC. "The client contacted us through our long-time association, and we supplied and installed. Long-term relationships like that are important to us."

Unlike most pre-engineered steel buildings, Big Molly is constantly subjected to repetitive motion from the large vibrating screeners inside. This extreme environment required custom engineering for secondary load control and internal stress. This building has massive vibrating machines, and the collateral loads had to meet strict specifications to handle all that movement.

Here’s what we completed in a 4-month production cycle, start to finish (6 months when you include the landowner's private shop):

• Pre-engineered steel building supply and installation for the mining industry

• Structural steel fabrication and installation

• Temperature-controlled building envelope for year-round operations

• Engineering for collateral loads due to vibrating screening equipment

• Tower construction

• A separate private shop building constructed for the original landowner

• Weatherproofing suitable for Alberta’s cold climate

• On-site coordination and sequencing to meet tight build timelines

Why Choose Pre-Engineered Steel Buildings for Mining and Processing Projects?

Pre-engineered construction offers speed, versatility, and affordability—a requirement for rural sites and short seasonal windows. "Speed was a big factor," explains Corey. "We had to beat winter and stick to the schedule. The job needed a combination of pre-engineered steel and structural steel, and we delivered it quickly.”

Metal Structure Concepts integrated pre-engineered steel buildings with conventional structural steel, a hybrid method in harmony with the mining building's complexity. When you need year-round operations in a harsh environment (and you need it built before the snow gets too deep), choose MSC.

Read our Big Molly case study here.

The frame is up, and equipment installation is being done before the building is closed due to the weather. 

MSC: Western Canada's steel building partner of choice

For over twenty years, MSC has supplied Western Canadian companies with steel buildings in Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan, and beyond.

“MSC is adaptable and diverse in the type of buildings we can design and accomplish,” explains Corey Ivanitz. “Same with our crews - they’re well-versed in many different types of buildings and structures.” From agricultural steel buildings and cold storage steel buildings to industrial uses in mining, oil, energy, and logistics, MSC supplies unmatched performance and climate-ready building infrastructure designed for your needs.

Big Molly is now a critical component of Alberta's resource supply chain—built strong, built fast, and built Canadian. Quote your next steel building build by contacting Metal Structure Concepts.

Metal Structure Concepts has designed and constructed steel buildings across Canada in various industries for over twenty years. Contact us today for a free quote.