Did You Know?

The East Kootenay Regional Hospital in Cranbrook recently underwent a $20 million intensive care unit expansion and electrical system upgrade. Underway is the construction of a new $5.6-million MRI.

New Cranbrook business: Advanced Enviro-Blast

Advanced Enviro-Blast is a new business in Cranbrook that specializes in dustless wet abrasive blasting. It is owned by Mike Sanderman and his father Bill—who also own and operate Canadian Purcell Machinery and Applied Compression Systems in Cranbrook.

Advanced Enviro-Blast’s dustless mobile blasting unit. 

According to Mike, the idea to start Advanced Enviro-Blast was born mostly out of necessity.

“Conventional sandblasting has become outdated in recent years, due to the safety and environmental concerns associated with the use of silica sand,” he said. “As a result, there was a need in the Kootenays for an abrasive cleaning technology that virtually eliminates the silica dust plume associated with sandblasting.

Completely mobile, their system, which includes a high capacity air compressor, dustless blast pot and water tank, can work anywhere in Western Canada. It also allows them to blast at any jobsite for approximately eight hours before needing to replenish supplies.

Applications for Advanced Enviro-Blast include heavy equipment, industrial plants and mills, automobile restoration, graffiti removal, residential building restoration and much more. “The sky’s the limit,” says their website (www.advancedenviroblast.com).

Those words may also ring true for the entrepreneurial Sanderman family. Their success, according to Mike, can be attributed to the following primary factors: the region’s strong business climate and a great employee work ethic. Many on his staff, he also noted, came to the region for work opportunities but ended up staying when they discovered the lifestyle.