“This crusher was integral to the doubling of Gibraltar Mines production capacity,” he says. “It was a very important piece of the puzzle for that mine. Our accelerated timeline allowed the client to quickly capitalize on the forward moving price curve of copper.” Again, that project was for a longstanding client. Geoff says they have been working with Taseko Mines for a number of consecutive years. He credits the strength of that relationship not just to the quality of work they have done together, but also the trust they have built with each other from the top down. “We’ve developed personal relationships with the CEO and the general manager of the whole mining company,” Geoff explains. “They are really down-to-earth guys and they like to be hands on with their contractors. They are the kind of people we love to deal with and we’ve developed a good trust together. They can trust that we’re going to do a good job and do our best and be completely up front with everything we do.” Geoff also credits the strength of that relationship – and the strength of all their relationships, with all their repeat clients – to CIF’s unique ability to work through winters. That’s a very valuable skillset in the north of Canada, and the company has invested a lot of time, money and effort into developing it. “That’s a big deal now,” he says. “A lot of the time the work on these projects is extending into the winter, and even right through the winter. We have the equipment and the people and the know-how to handle that. That goes a long way with our clients.” “We have quite an array of hoardings and structures and heaters we use,” he explains. “We have heaters that are specific to our concrete batch plant. We have a hoarding that closes it in for the winter and keeps it working even in really low temperatures. We have people who know how to do it – they’ve done it so many times now, they’re pretty advanced at it, they know how to set up for winter.” Moving forward, CIF Construction intends to continue leveraging that advanced knowledge and experience in order to continue to take on large-scale projects, like their work on the Gibraltar Mine. In the process, they hope to continue growing at a slowbut-steady rate. “We’re happy where we’re at,” Geoff says. “We have our steady clients and our steady tradesmen. We want to maintain those relationships. We want to keep doing everything we can to look after the people we have.” “At the same time, we’re always looking at the next steps,” he concludes. “In our business it’s good to be diversified. It’s good to meet new people. So we always want to be pushing ahead. We always want to be pioneering.” JUNE 2023
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