Can you elaborate on Redpath Mining’s business model, and what services are currently most in demand?

Redpath Mining is exclusively an underground contractor. We provide engineering services and design work for infrastructure that we end up building. We do a significant amount of tunneling and lateral development work, different types of vertical excavation, as well as underground contract mining. Ultimately, our business is driven by the demand for metal. As mining companies need to increase their capacity, they will call on us to develop a new ore body or to supplement their crews. A lot of the work we do is essentially building the mine prior to it going into production.

How have inflation and supply chain issues impacted work on the ground?

Redpath Mining does shaft work which involves design and procurement of steel weldments. The price of steel has risen, and steel lead times have been stretched due to availability. Mobile equipment such as loaders and trucks are suffering the same issues as the automotive industry, which is starved for microchips. Supply chain disruption has significantly increased delivery times and capital requirements for equipment.

To what extent have elevated commodity prices over the past two years helped push projects forward into construction?

There are great expected demands for battery metals, but yet there is still caution to invest at this point because of the uncertainty in the economy right now. Although there are new projects coming online, there are also projects being pushed out. We have experienced this through being awarded work expected to start in March of 2023, but the projects are now been pushed to January 2024. People are cautious in this current environment and want to see things stabilize before making significant investments.

How can Redpath help a company along that pathway of construction to keep costs under control?

The benefit of a company like Redpath is that we can provide both management and execution of a project. Mine operators are great at operating mines, but are not necessarily as effective in building them, and this is the advantage you get when partnering with us. We have great expertise in design, procurement, and construction to help clients not only execute the work, but also to manage the work.

Can you highlight some key projects Redpath has been involved with in Ontario?

Redpath has essentially done all the underground development and construction for Vale’s Voisey's Bay in Northern Labrador. In addition, we just completed the South Mine shaft refurbishment at Vale’s Copper Cliff mine in Sudbury. We have also worked continuously on Glencore’s Raglan mine since it was opened 30 years ago. We are working at Agnico Eagle’s Macassa mine in Kirkland Lake, doing development and construction. We have worked on basically all the Newmont properties in Canada, and have been working in the Red Lake camp for many years where we have been involved in projects for Placer Dome, Goldcorp and Evolution Mining.

What are some of the ways in which technology is permeating the mining industry in Ontario?

There are two exciting things happening in terms of underground mining technology. The first is battery electric vehicles (BEV). Battery life is still a challenge and delaying the transition to BEVs, but this technology is a game changer in the underground mining space. Secondly, automation technologies are providing great benefits to underground mining, especially with regards to safety and productivity. The advancement of communication technologies and tools, and being able to use real time data to affect how you are executing work and make decisions, are also significantly benefiting underground mining.

Using automated equipment reduces risks for operators as they do not necessarily have to be underground. It also increases productivity as the equipment can continue operating even during shift changes or if the operator is unavailable for a period of time. In light of the global skills shortage, finding people that are qualified to operate equipment is not easy. If the equipment can do the tasks without human control, then the knowledge and training requirements are not as significant as before.