Over a year ago, Gemini Corporation was nearly wiped off the map along with all the jobs that were attached to it.

However, the Ponoka fabrication operation was saved from the bankruptcy pile by a central Alberta company that was determined to see what could be kept alive.

Now, exactly one year after Hive Innovations of Blackfalds won approval from the Alberta courts, the Gemini name, now called “Gemini Fabrication,” remains on the 56-acre facility which employs about 150 people.

Andy Farrow, president of Gemini Fabrication, explained that Hive and its shareholders started negotiations back in June 2018, just two months after Gemini went into receivership, in order to keep things running rather than simply purchase the equipment and see people be laid off.

“Everyone thought it would be a good fit and there were a lot of great people at the facility,” he said.

“It simply needed some support and help to supply it in order to grow while focusing on that one facet of the operation.”

The original company was a large entity that had many functions, from engineering to fabrication to contracting over the previous 35 years. However, when a restructuring bid failed to garner the support of lenders, the company was forced into receivership in April 2018.

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