Duane Hicks
Continuing to diversify its business portfolio, Naicatchewenin Development Corp. (NDC) is now in the drilling business with a new venture, Arrowhead Gold Drilling.
Back in April, NDC ordered an HTM-2500 Usinage Marcotte rig drill from Val-d’Or, Que., which was built to specs, and last Friday delivered it to Naicatchewenin FN.
The nearly $600,000 drill now will be put to work for Q-Gold at its Mine Centre site to drill an 840-metre hole later this week.
This is the first of several contracts lined up with different mining companies, totalling 30,000 metres of drilling, which will keep Arrowhead Gold Drilling busy for the next year.
In addition to drilling, Arrowhead Gold Drilling also is conducting driller training, with eight of 10 recent trainees already having found jobs.
The venture is one of several NDC recently has taken on, with the others including NDC food services and NDC Synterra Security Solutions.
Tony Marinaro, chief business development officer for NDC, said the drilling company is another example of seizing opportunities provided by the booming mining sector here in Rainy River District and elsewhere.
“We thought, ‘What can we provide?’” noted Marinaro. “We looked at catering and got that up and running. We looked at the security company, and we got that to service this sector.
“And then drilling—there’s a great opportunity to have another stream but also to have the ability to train our own people, to build up the capacity, something to have a little more control over,” he reasoned.
“[Drill manager] John [Carter] brought the experience to the table,” Marinaro added.
“It’s not something we would step out on our own to do, not without a manager that has the knowledge and experience to take us where we want to go,” he stressed.
“We’re a small operation; we’re not out there to compete with the large companies,” he explained. “We’re not in that position, and we don’t want to be—that’s not our goal.
“We want to participate in the local economy and create some jobs for our people, make ourselves sustainable.”
Marinaro said the idea is to build up a pool of individuals here who can be drillers, either for Arrowhead Gold Drilling or any other mining company.
Not only will this mean providing transferable skills to local community members, but also that those well-paid drillers and their families can stay in the district and keep their dollars circulating in the local economy.
Marinaro added not all trainees have been from Naicatchewenin FN but other local communities, as well, and that NDC remains willing to work with others to expand their economic opportunities.
“The doors are wide open. It’s for everybody, as far as these opportunities,” echoed Naicatchewnin FN Chief Wayne Smith.
“It’s not all for Naicatchewnin—we like to share,” he stressed.
Carter said most drill companies import workers from all over, bringing them in for 28 days at a time, after which time they take a two-week break and then come back.
“By training locally, you’re serving two purposes,” he explained. “One, you’re creating employment here locally, good paying jobs.
“And two, you’re also saving the company money because they don’t have to import the workers from Quebec, where most of them are coming from.”
If worse came to worse and the mining sector were to “dry up” here, those trained as drillers could take their skills elsewhere and find a well-paying job, Marinaro said.
Carter explained Ontario has specific rules around who can work on a drill, and the training they must have before they can do so.
“We certified ourselves to be able to train them the certain modules that are required,” he noted. “Comparable training programs are in Kirkland Lake and Sudbury, and they’re pretty expensive.
“We did it for a pretty reasonable cost,” Carter added.
Marinaro noted the training is accredited through the Ministry of Colleges and Universities.
Carter said Arrowhead Gold Drilling found some willing customers who would let them do some training while they drilled real production for them, providing hands-on experience for trainees while keeping training costs down.
Chief Smith said he’s “really excited about what’s transpiring.”
“Obviously, there was a great deal of thought and planning that went into this,” he remarked. “There’s been a lot of community involvement, a lot of educating the community in terms of what we’re trying to do.
“The opportunities are here, not only in the Fort Frances Tribal Area but outside of here,” Chief Smith stressed. “We’re a small company, just starting off. We’re a small development corporation, but our intent was always to train our people, give them an opportunity to work.
“Right now, the opportunities are here.
“I’m excited that we’re giving these community members the opportunity to go to work and make a living out of it at the end of the day,” Chief Smith added.
He reiterated that Naicatchewenin FN is a community that wants to get trained, and to work for what it gets.
“If you’re just given something, it’s only good for a day and after that it’s done,” he reasoned.
“The way we’re doing things, we’re investing and we’re going to build on it.”
Chief Smith conceded the drill is a major investment for NDC, and perhaps somewhat of “a risk,” but he’s confident the venture can succeed with an experienced manager like Carter in charge.
Carter has been drilling in the area since 2008, and dealt with Larry George and Rainy Lake Tribal Contracting, Rainy River Resources, Champion Bear Resources Ltd., and others.
He’s known Marinaro for a number of years, who introduced Carter to Chief Smith and NDC CEO Jeremiah Windego.
Carter said they saw opportunities for NDC to get into the drilling business.
“The customers are here, the gold’s here, the labour force is here,” he reasoned. “And they had the financial wherewithal to get a drill and get things started.
“It’s a good situation for everybody.
“Our first step was the training,” added Carter. “After that, getting real customers.
“We’ve got the real customers now, the revenues are flowing, and this should be pretty good.
“Right now, the markets are a little volatile, as you know from the last couple days, but, of course, gold is hanging in there really strong,” Carter noted.
“It makes a lot of projects that were marginal before economical. The money’s there for exploration still,” he stressed.
Carter said drill companies have operated in this area for years, but they all imported from other regions. Nothing was local—the helpers weren’t local, the drills weren’t local, the companies weren’t local.
But that’s changing. For example, most of the drilling companies are hiring locally and also are buying core boxes which are made locally, such as those made by Manitou Forest Products.
“It’s spun off a lot of local growth and participation in the industry,” Carter said.
“This drill is one of the bigger down payments that anybody’s made locally . . . this is the real deal,” he added.
“There’s a drill company in Thunder Bay, but nothing west of here until you get to Winnipeg,” noted Carter, with Marinaro adding Arrowhead Gold Drilling’s drill is the only one 100 percent owned by a First Nation.
Carter said some of the companies operating in the region are massive, with 200-700 drill machines at their disposal. But in reality, there’s many projects that only require one drill.
“When you’re one drill, you can compete as effectively as anybody, with the right crews and the right equipment,” he remarked.
“In fact, you’re often times better because the morale is better.”
Windego said Arrowhead Gold Drilling marks another strategic investment for NDC, which has been diversifying beyond the forestry sector and into mining.
“Our investment plan has always been to find good people, help to make them better, and provide opportunities for First Nations people in our area.
“I believe we’ve met each one of those objectives with this partnership with John Carter,” Windego noted.
“We have a good, solid team behind us now. We’ve got strong management,” he stressed. “Those are a lot of the things we bring to the table to offer.
“There’s no substitute for hard work, and Tony’s put a lot of hard work into pulling this deal together for us,” Windego added.
“With the support and direction from the leadership of the community, and the people of the community, I think we have a recipe for success here.”
For more information on Arrowhead Gold Drilling, contact Marinaro at cbdo@ndevcorp.ca
You also can find out more about the NDC at www.naicatcheweninfirstnation.ca
