A Thunder Bay contractor has hooked up with one of Canada’s premier drilling companies to establish a presence in northwestern Ontario.
Val d’Or, Quebec-based Orbit Garant Drilling announced March 27 that it had struck a strategic partnership with George Contracting Group.
“They’re a very young and aggressive company and we’re of the same culture,” said Larry George, CEO of George Contracting Group.
“They have an Ontario branch in Sudbury, but it’s hard for them to service the western part of Canada. And the CEO (Eric Alexandre) is same age as me, we’re like-minded individuals, and we get along well.”
Diving into the mining business by offering a regional base, contracting and logistical support to Orbit Garrant was a great way to diversify his business, said George.
He was formerly general manager and partner with Rainy Lake Tribal Contractors, a venture he shared with his wife, Michelle, and some Fort Frances area First Nations, which at its peak employed 175.
“We were heavily involved in the forestry sector.”
The industry crash in the late 1990s forced them to lay off employees and divest themselves of much equipment.
“When we were in forestry we had all our eggs in one basket and when it turned sour it was a scary ride,” said George. “We were fortunate in being able to pull through, diversify and re-invent ourselves.”
The company had picked up some mining-related work having built an access road for Osisko Mining at its Hammond Reef Gold project near Atikokan. Previously, George had worked with Orbit Garant in a previous partnership involving a diamond drilling program with Osisko and Rainy River Resources.
“It was a great opportunity to get experience in the mining sector.”
The company was involved with First Nation training initiatives for equipment operators, labour, and diamond drill helpers that boasted some success stories, said George.
Last June, George and his wife sold their shares in the company to their partners and relocated to Thunder Bay to take advantage of opportunities in the mining and resource sector.
“We re-established ourselves here and bought a welding and fabrication shop.”
At the 10,000-square-foot shop, just west of Thunder Bay at Twin City Crossroads, they perform trailer repairs and manufacturing, along with heavy equipment rentals while still maintaining a construction fleet of excavators, bulldozers and heavy trucks.
Part of the Thunder Bay shop will be leased to Orbit and George will stock parts, assist in moving drills to site, keep an inventory of surface and underground rigs at the location, and assist with sales and marketing.
“Our core business is welding and fabrication,” said George. “The nature of the relationship is we have contacts in Northern Ontario and we bring that to the table. We’ll do the marketing and sales on behalf of Orbit Garant and we’ll be involved by way of support equipment, bulldozers and excavators. We’ll be the service facility for those rigs.”
There will be be training opportunities, such as for driller helpers, offered through programs from the Metis Nation of Ontario, said George, who is Metis.
“We’ve brought Aboriginal youth into the workforce and have had great success, and the individuals are local.”
George said the two companies are bidding on various projects and within a month expect to have three drill rigs in the yard and ready to go.
“We’re going to get really aggressive in the drilling sector with Orbit.”
While the mineral exploration sector in northwestern Ontario is soft, George said it helps have a large-scale contractor like Orbit in their corner with 224 rigs and one of the strongest safety records in the country.
“The clients have the ability to pick and choose what contractors they want on site.”
With currently 12 to 15 employees, George expects to start hiring soon as they gear up for a busy summer season of exploration, road construction and fabrication work.
