Conuma President John Schadan has been replaced by former Vice President Brian Marshall, who takes on the newly created position of Chief Operating Officer.
Marshal has been with Conuma since November 2020. It’s just the latest step for Marshal, who has been working in mining since 1979.
“I started mining in 1979 straight out of high school,” says Marshall. “When I was 18 years old, I started working in a mine, and my experience goes from, working as a laborer in the mill to driving equipment to a heavy equipment mechanic.”
After a number of years working in the mine, Marshall decided to go back to school. “I got a diploma in electronic engineering technology, and then a degree in electrical engineering and went back into mining again. So other than my university days, I’ve been in mining my whole career.”
For nearly half of that, says Marshall, he’s been working towards management. “After I got my engineering degree, I went to work for BHP. And BHP put a lot of leadership training into me when I first got there. They put me on the path. I came in as an engineer, but I wasn’t in engineering very long. They saw leadership capabilities and they put a lot of time into training me over the next 12 years.”
He started with BHP as an engineer. When he left, he and another person were in charge. “There was a lady named Laura Tyler. Together, she and myself were running that mine. We didn’t have a GM; we ran it together. And, you know, from there, I went to Mosaic as Director of Maintenance for all their mines in North America. And they figured out real quick to that leadership was probably my best skill. They put me in as GM a one in their mines within about a year and a half or two years after going to work for them. So yeah, I’ve been groomed by a lot of companies. I have spent the last 20 years troubleshooting mines. I go into a place that’s not performing correctly, or where something is off. And when I leave, the places are running smoothly and producing at high rates.”
Marshall originally hails from Newfoundland, but at age 7, he and his family moved to Labrador, where he finished his schooling and started working.
“I actually did think about coming to Tumbler Ridge back in the eighties, but the job I had was really good at the time and there was no need to move.”
Marshall finally made the move to Tumbler last year to join Conuma as Vice President. But when John Schadan left, the structure at the top changed a bit. “When John left, our CEO Brian Sullivan and I talked about it. And Brian took over some of his responsibilities and I took over the remainder. I’ve run single mines that are bigger than Conuma.”
He says his goal as COO is to streamline the operation and increase production. “When I came on board, it was almost like we were a project that never really turned into an operating group. We were still in firefighting mode. Now we’re getting things running the way we want them to. My goal over the last year has been to take this organization that was in firefighting mode and take it to an operating level where we could start improving on our production capabilities. And that’s what we’re doing now.
“Look at Willow or Wolverine or Brule, they’re all setting production records right now. Which is exactly where we need to be because prices are high. When prices are high, your focus should be on how do you lower your cost per ton and make sure to get more efficient. And that’s what we’re doing across the business right now.”
A large part of that is creating a team of leaders. “We’re putting leadership development in place for all of our supervisors, managers and directors. We have put a concerted effort on that. We’re working with a group out of Edmonton and we’re developing and rolling out all of our supervisory development training right now. That’s a yearlong program. Our managers kick into that in March, and then our directors after that. We’re teaching people how to be good leaders. Typically, what I’ve seen in my past is,you find somebody who’s really good at what they do. Say they’re an exceptional haul truck driver or shovel operator. Next thing they are a supervisor and are thrown into the mix without any direction, right? What I’m trying to do is make sure that we handle that upfront. As new people come into our organization, we put them through a leadership training program, internally. That was a big piece that was missing.
“And the other thing is we have lots of equipment. Were we utilizing it to its full capability? The answer is no. So it’s been a process of getting the right equipment to the right mines.
“A while ago—probably about six to eight months ago—we put two brand new shovels in. They’re considerably bigger than what was there before. So a PC 7000 at Wolverine and 5600 at Willow. We’re trying to match up everything so that the right size truck is working with the right size shovel.”
So, where are they on the move to Hermann? Aren’t they supposed to be up there already? Not so fast, says Marshall. It’s not time to leave Wolverine yet. “What we’ve been trying to do is look at our current mining footprint we have right now and see if there’s more there. We’ve done a pretty extensive drilling program over the last year and a half, and we have found more coal at Wolverine. While we’re working on getting Hermann operational, we’re also looking at how to extend the current mine life of the mine we’re in right now. Because before you go disturb more ground, you should have a look at what you’ve currently got before you and make sure you’re getting the most out of it. So that’s what we’ve been doing.
With that in mind, Marshall doesn’t see Wolverine being wrapped up for another two, two and half years before they have to have the permits in place for Hermann. And how long will that take? “Well, we’ve been working with the government now for quite a bit,” he says. “I think, really, we’re down to issues around water management right now. Most of the questions we’re getting from them around Hermann is around water management, and we’re putting things in place to deal with that. We’ve got settlement ponds, but we also have biochemical reactors at Brule now. We’re seeing some really good results of that. They take down our selenium and nitrates. So what we’re doing now is proving that technology and focusing on that.
He says getting a mine up and running is “slightly harder” than it used to be, because of new regulations. “At one point, selenium didn’t have a well-defined limit on it, and then they took it down to 10 micrograms per liter, and now they’re looking at bringing it down to two micrograms per liter. So that makes it harder. But at the end of the day, we want to make sure that what’s going back into the environment is good for the environment. So I understand where the government is coming from. They’re just looking at protecting the land where we live.”
Over the next five to ten years, Marshall expects to see some big changes. Yes, the plan is to get as much value out of the current mines, but also to be ready to move sites. In the next three years, he says, expect to see the Wolverine Workforce transition to Hermann. And the Brule mine will be running out of coal sometime in the next five to ten years. That mine will be replaced by the Hudette project, which is about halfway between Brule and Willow Creek. “That’s at least five years out at this point, but I see that one being up and running within the next five to 10 years. Willow Creek has a large permitted reserve, enough for quite a few years still right now. We’re still looking at what is in our existing map boundary that we have that we can mine, and then we’re doing another drilling program there to define that resource. But in the next ten to twenty years, Wolverine is going to turn into Hermann, and Brule is going to turn Hudette, but Willow Creek will remain.
Willow Creek has historically had the highest operational costs, but, says Marshall, they’ve shortened their hauls and put a bunch of work into making it more efficient. “I would say that Willow is in the best place right now that it’s ever been. My goal is none of these mines shut down when prices drop, and now’s the time we’re going to fix that. If you look at the mine plan we have right now, we’re wrapping up production. And we’re going to ramp that as high as we can get. All of our geological models now been updated in the last 12 months, so that we have a better understanding of what’s out there at all three sites. Knowing where the coal is was a bit more hit and miss before now. A year ago, our 13 week plan could rise and fall by a ridiculous amount, in terms of production. But if you look at it now, our 13 week plan from one week to the next is pretty much consistent. We’ve gotten to the point where a mine plans show us exactly what we’re going to get and we’re hitting those targets and if anything, we’re starting to improve on that.”
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
