Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Prairie Plant Systems also buys UP Power Marketing
Brent Zettl stands before a map of Sub Terra in a file photo.
By JAN TUCKER
White Pine - Prairie Plant Systems, owners of SubTerra in White Pine, said it has completed its purchase of the Traxys Power Group Inc., which includes the White Pine Power Plant, White Pine Copper refinery and Upper Peninsula Power Marketing LLC.
Brent Zettl, president and CEO of Prairie Plant Systems, will be president of all three groups, while Steve Walsh, president of TPG Power Holdings, the former owner of TPG, will be CEO of White Pine Electric and Upper Peninsula Power Marketing.
Zettl said the group has been working since last November to close the deal.
White Pine Electric Power is a 40-megawatt natural gas generating power plant. White Pine Copper Refinery offers refining capacity to produce 85,000 short tons per year of anode quality copper, and Upper Peninsula Power Marketing is an electrical supply broker company that buys and sells onto the power grid.
The unsure future of the energy policy seems to have an impact on the purchase. Zettl explained, "With Michigan's energy policy set to expire in 2015, just as new regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be requiring states to cut carbon pollution from existing power plants, we wanted to ensure that the highly specialized work we do in creating plant-based pharmaceuticals would not be in jeopardy as a result of power outages."
He added, "This strategic acquisition to maintain our own supply of consistent power will ensure that there will be no delay in the development of the drugs in our pipeline."
Zettl said the acquisition by Prairie Plant Systems positions the bio-tech company as the first to wholly control its own source of energy, primarily to be used in the growth chambers for its U.S. subsidiary. SubTerra, located in the former White Pine Copper Mine.
Sub Terra continues to work on a platform to develop biopharmaceuticals for immune deficiency diseases. The company is in the process of creating another 10,000-square-foot expansion in the underground chamber.
Zettl said the company is removing some of the floor to provide more ceiling height and expects to complete that expansion in December. The long-range plans of the company are to build a plant to manufacture its own pharmaceuticals in White Pine. Several years ago, the company purchased additional land in White Pine for that purpose.
Emphasizing the importance of controlling its own power supply, Zettl told the Daily Globe, "If there is an ice storm, for example, we need to have our own control of the power."
He said advantages of Sub Terra in White Pine include the highest level of quality control level 2 containment, meaning there is no risk of unintended generic release, and also accelerated growth and improved crop production.
Walsh said the Traxys Group has been at the White Pine Mine for over 10 years and recently completed conversion of the White Pine Power Station from coal-fired to natural gas. He said, "As Traxys looks to focus its time and resources on its core business of metals and minerals trading, divestiture of the power group was seen as a logical strategic move."
