Copper theft costs go far beyond stolen metal, Calgary business owner says

Calgary Police Service attend a scene in Calgary, Alta., Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh)

A Calgary business owner says the real cost of copper theft is far higher than the dollar figure often listed in police reports.

Calgary police announced this week that a man had been charged in connection with a commercial break and enter at Crypto Therm Manufacturing Inc. in southeast Calgary.

Police said industrial equipment and copper wire, collectively valued at $255,000, were stolen from the business on Nov. 4.

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However, Crypto Therm CEO Austin Bank says that number only reflects part of the damage.

“They attribute the theft to the replacement value of the equipment that they destroyed, or the value of the cable that was removed – not the cost of actually putting it together, not the cost of the losses that it incurred by it.”

Bank says he discovered the damage while touring a client through one of the company’s back storage buildings.

He says a massive transformer had been tipped over, oil had been drained, copper bus bars had been taken, and cables had been ripped from CNC machines, welding robots and generators.

“We had generators with their fuses and their control cables all removed,” Bank said. “And basically, the deeper we went, the more copper we found was gone.”

Crypto Therm manufactures power generation and data centre equipment for Bitcoin mining and AI infrastructure.

Bank says the company also operates at rural well sites, powering their units by natural gas.

He says those locations have also been targeted.

“They take out the control wires, they take out the power lines, and they shut the whole plants down,” Bank said. “Now our plants are down, all the upstream producers are down, and sometimes some of these plants never recover from it.”

Bank says the company has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on security improvements and millions of dollars on insurance, but thieves continue to target the business.

He says insurance has become a major cost for companies in the sector because providers are looking at losses across the industry.

Sgt. Nick Wilsher with the Calgary Police Service crime prevention unit says instances of copper theft are rising.

“It kind of comes in waves,” he said.

“Certainly, we’ve seen, as of late, an increase in copper thefts that started last year, and it’s continued.”

Wilsher says some copper thefts are still crimes of opportunity, especially at construction sites, but others are more planned.

Police believe organized crime is involved somewhere in the chain.

Bank feels scrap metal rules are not doing enough to stop stolen material from being sold.

He takes in metal scrap from his factory and says he’s rarely gets questioned about its origin.

“There’s virtually none,” he said. “They just dump it and run. The companies probably don’t really want to know.”

Alberta updated its scrap metal rules last year, expanding reporting requirements for dealers and recyclers handling high-theft items such as copper wire, bronze and catalytic converters.

Wilsher says the rules only work when recyclers follow them.

“There are, there are reputable metal recyclers and there are… less than reputable recyclers that are around. Some are registered with the city, and others are kind of working off the side.”

Calgary police say three people were involved in the most recent break-in at Crypto Therm Manufacturing.

One of the suspects – identified through DNA – was taken into custody from the 7600 block of 23 Street S.E. on June 10.

The accused, a 54-year-old man, is charged with one count of breaking and entering.

Anyone with further information on the incident is asked to call police at 403-266-1234.

Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Stoppers.