An international mining and minerals expert, Stuart Saich, founder and CEO of Promet101, is part of the team who ensure BarCan’s mining methods are stateof-the-art and optimized for consistent production. Stuart has active projects ongoing in Chile, Zimbabwe, and Mexico; worked in the Fort McMurray (AB) Oilsands, and with companies such as Bechtel, SNC, and Torex. Reached at his Santiago offices, Stuart said his time on site in Buchans was a satisfying challenge. “Reliable, cost-effective, quality was what we designed into BarCan’s process, and that is what they produce.”

Promet101’s Ben Chisholm remained on the BarCan site after assisting with the 2020 startup, to upskill local workers in the latest techniques and methods for producing great Barite.

BarCan staff work with a vision of Safety First, Safety for All. By putting safety first and knowing that quality matters in all aspects of BarCan’s production process, the company has worked close to 30,000 hours this year without a single lost-time incident.

Rick Brace, BarCan Safety Manager notes, “Nobody at BarCan is just a statistic. For safety, it’s not that “somebody” might get hurt; we don’t want Fiona to get hurt, or Mike. None of us want a friend hurt on the job, so it’s a matter of care and concern for each other—as well as the product—that makes us put safety first.”

Have you noticed our light-as-pumice tone in some of the BarCan newsletter articles we’ve sent you so far? There’s one thing we don’t take lightly, however. The health and safety of our BarCan employees are seismic. BMSI hired Dallas Mercer Consulting (DMC) in March to come onsite and perform a COVID-19 safety audit. Since the DMC visit, BarCan has implemented the COVID-19 Self-isolation response plan and the COVID-19 Exposure control plan.

Tammy Pinsent, HR Safety Programs and Operations Administrator said, “This isn’t the kind of job you can do from home,” with a laugh. “It’s important that we keep production flowing: but we need to know how to keep each other safe while doing it. I am keeping my “work family” as safe as my family at home.”