24 minute read
Boart Longyear
BOUNCING BACK BETTER
Jeff Olsen, CEO at Boart Longyear Limited (ASX: BLY), discusses how his firm has overcome significant challenges to become a major player in drilling services
Writer: Marcus Kääpä | Project Manager: David Knott
Boart Longyear is the world’s leading provider of drilling services, drilling equipment and performance tooling for the mining and exploration industries, and is making a name for itself in the drilling technology and geologic data sectors.
The company’s global drilling services division operates for a diverse mining customer base that spans a wide range of commodities, including copper, gold, nickel, zinc, uranium and other metals and minerals. The global products & Geologic Data Services (GDS) divisions design, manufactures and sells drilling equipment, performance tooling, down-hole instrumentation and parts and services to both mining and drilling firms.
Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, Boart Longyear operates across six global manufacturing locations and provides the most advanced
PMudex joined with NorthStar Fluid Solutions and MayanStar Fluids in 2014 to form one of the largest privately owned non-oilfield drilling fluids company globally.ARTNER WITH US WWW.MUDEX.COM.AU
drilling technology on the market. Boart Longyear also provides drilling services in over 20 countries.
Jeff Olsen is the CEO of Boart Longyear. By his own admission, he had an ‘unusual’ path into the industry. “My undergraduate degree is in international politics and then I went on to get an MBA in upstate New York,” explains Olsen. “In 1991, I moved to a chemical company called General Chemical and they had mostly chemical operations but some mining operations. Thereafter, I worked at Rio Tinto for 18 years across various locations in several different roles.”
Indeed, Olsen lived and worked in London for a number of years before relocating back to Salt Lake City where Rio Tinto had a large regional office before leaving for Boart Longyear in 2014. “The downturn of the mining industry began in 2012 so I joined in the middle of a downturn in the sector, thinking that it would only last a few years and we’d move onto bigger and better things which unfortunately didn’t prove to be the case,” explains Olsen. “As a result of the market not being very good, we had a number of transactions to help keep Boart Longyear’s position as a leader in the drilling industry, but we were unsuccessful at solving the balance sheet problem.”
OVERCOMING CHALLENGES
This issue, mixed with the emergence of COVID-19, prompted Boart Longyear to announce a large recapitalisation, which is in process and is subject to a favorable shareholder vote in September. “Our first quarter earnings were very strong in 2021, which means we are on track for a breakout year. Additionally, our proposed recapitalisation will reduce
DEVELOPING PEOPLE
Training is an important pillar to Boart Longyear’s strategy and the firm has established a system to ensure its people are equipped with the required safety knowledge. “Safety is our most important value,” stresses Olsen. “If you look at our safety statistics, they exceed our peers in the industry. That is why it is important that, in addition to compliance, our training is mostly focused on safety. We have a number of mandatory safety programmes for all of our employees, and we also have training that we do in collaboration with the University of Utah for leadership training.
“We have great people; we do good training. Wherever you are in the world, you are going to get the same safety training and recognise our sites as Boart Longyear sites. That has been a real push for us since 2014 and has paid huge dividends in our drilling efficiency.”
Jeff Olsen, CEO
RAW MATERIALS LOCALLY MADE
MudThe ex'skey main manufdifference toacturingMudex’s facility isproducts basedis quain Welity of sterthenr Auawstralia and productsingredients used in arethe produced to themanufacturing prohighescess. t possible MUDEX PREMIUM AND Standard. MUDEX PREMIUM AND INNOVATIVE DRILLING FLUIDS INNOVATIVE DRILLING FLUIDS As manufacturers in Australia we operate our businesses in an ethical manner with strict government policies on safety, employee welfare, air emissions and with sustainable and secure supply chains, as such Australia is globally recognised as a supplier of trusted produce and products.
Mudex and its partners NorthStar and MayanStar are a privately owned and operated international drilling fluid company’s specialising in the manufacture and supply of high quality and environmentally friendly drilling fluid products for the Exploration, HDD, Mining, Water Well, Geotechnical and Civil construction industries. Mudex partnership with NorthStar and MayanStar make for a global group of companies with reach in United States of America, Canada, and Mexico, as well All our raw products are sourced from as access to a wide and exclusive range of quality products. This ensures Mudex local and imported suppliers, we can efficiently supply drilling fluid solutions to our customers on a global scale, rigorously test the quality of our raw in addition to our Partners we have distributors in Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe ingredients prior to manufacturing at and South America all with extensive stock holding. our in-house chemist and R&D facility. While Mudex and is partners NorthStar and MayanStar are a global company we maintain a local identity in the areas they work. It has always been their ideology that they support the communities they work in and manufacture as much locally where possible, for example: NorthStar Fluids manufactures in the USA with most of the raw materials purchased locally in the USA, the equivalent occurs in Mexico with the MayanStar supply chains. Their long-term goal is to develop local decanting through to full functioning manufacturing facilities in key regions to provide economic stimulus and opportunities through employment of local labour. With a clear strategy to provide a level of service unparalleled that continues to keep Mudex as the leader in our industry they have always strived to be at the forefront of technological advancements and having a strong local position that can provide fast, flexible, customised, and competitive product solutions to our customers through multiple manufacturing divisions. The staff have vast chemical knowledge and experience in their fields. With a proven track record of successful developments Mudex has continued over the past 10 years to innovate successful products into the drilling fluid market. With in-house chemists, multiple laboratories and testing facilities at our global offices ensures that we have full control over our product development and testing. In addition to their own in-house research and development team they have partnered with technical specialists and companies in the industry to find new ways of adapting technology to suit the wide-ranging challenges encountered in the field.
MUDEX DIFFERENCLOCALLY MADE E
LOCALLY MADE Mudex’s main manufacturing facility is RAW MATERIALS Mudex's main manufacturing facility is based in Western Australia and products based in Western Australia and products are produced to the highest possible are produced to the highest Standard. Standard. The key difference to Mudex’s is quality of the raw ingredient possible products s used in As manufacturers in Australia we operate our businesses in an ethical manner with strict government policies As manufacturers in Australia we operate our businesses in an ethical manner with strict government policies on safety, the manufacturing process. on safety, employee welfare, air employee welfare, air emissions and with emissions and with sustainable and sustainable and secure supply chains, as secure supply chains, as such Australia is such Australia is globally recognised as a globally recognised as a supplier of supplier of trusted produce and products. trusted produce and products.
Ethical Business Model Mudex and its partners NorthStar and MayanStar are a privately owned and
ESG Focused Company operated and supp in ly ternational of high qu drill ality ing f and luid env company’s specialising in the manufacture ironmentally friendly drilling fluid products
Producer of Bio-Degradable drilling for the Exploration, HDD, Mining, Water Well, Geotechnical and Civil construction industries. polymers and lubricants are. Mudex partnership with NorthStar and MayanStar make for a global group of
Inhouse Chemist and R&D laboratory. companies with reach in United States of America, Canada, and Mexico, as well All ourProprawrieta products are sry formulations.ourced from as access to a wide and exclusive range of quality products. This ensures Mudex local and imported suppliers, we can efficiently supply drilling fluid solutions to our customers on a global scale, rigoro All uslI.P y is test the owned byquality Mudex. of our raw in addition to our Partners we have distributors in Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe ingredientsLarge sto prck iorhol to manufding in theacturing at and South America all with extensive stock holding. our in-house chemist and R&D facility. manufacturing plant with both raw While Mudex and is partners NorthStar and MayanStar are a global company we maintain a local identity in the areas they work. It has always been their ideology that they support the communities they work in and manufacture as much locally where possible, for example: NorthStar Fluids manufactures in the USA with most of the raw materials purchased locally in the USA, the equivalent occurs in Mexico with the MayanStar supply chains. Their long-term goal is to develop local decanting through to full functioning manufacturing facilities in key regions to provide economic stimulus and opportunities through employment of local labour. With a clear strategy to provide a level of service unparalleled that continues to keep Mudex as the leader in our industry they have always strived to be at the forefront of technological advancements and having a strong local position that can provide fast, flexible, customised, and competitive product solutions to our customers through multiple manufacturing divisions. The staff have vast chemical knowledge and experience in their fields. With a proven track record of successful developments Mudex has continued over the past 10 years to innovate successful products into the drilling fluid market. With in-house chemists, multiple laboratories and testing facilities at our global offices ensures that we have full control over our product development and testing. In addition to their own in-house research and development team they have partnered with technical specialists and companies in the industry to find new ways of adapting technology to suit the wide-ranging challenges encountered in the field.
materials and finished goods.
Preferred supply agreements with many g RAW MATERIALSMUDEX DIFFERENCERAW MATERIALSlobal drilling companies.
The key difference to Mudex’s products is quality of the raw ingredients used in the manufacturing process.
Mudex and its partners NorthStar and MayanStar are a privately owned and operated international drilling fluid company’s specialising in the manufacture and supply of high quality and environmentally friendly drilling fluid products The key difference to Mudex’s products is quality of the raw ingredients used in Ethical Business Model ESG Focused Company for con the Exploration, struction industries. HDD, Mining, Water Well, Geotechnical and Civil the manufacturing process. Producer of Bio-Degradable drilling Mudex partnership with NorthStar and MayanStar make for a global group of companies with reach in United States of America, Canada, and Mexico, as well as access to a wide and exclusive range of quality products. This ensures Mudex can efficiently supply drilling fluid solutions to our customers on a global scale, in addition to our Partners we have distributors in Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe and South America all with extensive stock holding. While Mudex and is partners NorthStar and MayanStar are a global company we maintain a local identity in the areas they work. It has always been their ideology that they support the communities they work in and manufacture as much locally where possible, for example: NorthStar Fluids manufactures in the USA with most of the raw materials purchased locally in the USA, the equivalent occurs in Mexico with the MayanStar supply chains. Their long-term goal is to develop local decanting through to full functioning manufacturing facilities in key regions to provide economic stimulus and opportunities through employment of local labour. With a clear strategy to provide a level of service unparalleled that continues to keep Mudex as the leader in our industry they have always strived to be at the forefront of technological advancements and having a strong local position that can provide fast, flexible, customised, and competitive product solutions to our customers through multiple manufacturing divisions. The staff have vast chemical knowledge and experience in their fields. With a proven track record of successful developments Mudex has continued over the past 10 years to innovate successful products into the drilling fluid market. With in-house chemists, multiple laboratories and testing facilities at our global offices ensures that we have full control over our product development and testing. In addition to their own in-house research and development team they have partnered with technical specialists and companies in the industry to find new ways of adapting technology to suit the wide-ranging challenges encountered in the field.
All our raw products are sourced from local and imported suppliers, we rigorously test the quality of our raw All our raw products are sourced from local and imported suppliers, we rigorously test the quality of our raw polymers and lubricants are. Inhouse Chemist and R&D laboratory. ingredients prior to manufacturing at ingredients prior to manufacturing by Proprietary formulations. our in-house chemist andour in-house chemists. All I.P is owned by MudR& ex. D facility.
Large stock holding in the
manufacturing plant with both raw MUDEX DIFFERENCE MUDEX DIFFERENCEmaterials and finished goods.
Preferred supply agreements with many • Ethical Business Model Ethical Business Model. global drilling companies. • ESG Focused Company ESG Focused Company.
Producer of Bio-Degradable drilling • Producer of Bio-Degradable drilling polymers and lubricants are. polymers and lubricants.
Inhouse Chemist and R&D laboratory. • In-house Chemist and R&D laboratory.
Proprietary formulations. • Proprietary formulations.
All I.P is owned by Mudex. • All I.P is owned by Mudex.
Large stock holding in the • Large stock holding in the manufacturing plant with both raw manufacturing plant with both raw materials and finished goods. materials and finished goods.
Preferred supply agreements with many • global drilling companies. Preferred supply agreements with many global drilling companies. "MUDEX LEAD'S SUPPLY ON INTERNATIONAL DRILLING FLUID MARKET"
“MUDEX LEAD’S SUPPLY
ON INTERNATIONAL
"MUDEX LEAD'S SUPPLY DRILLING FLUID MARKET” ON INTERNATIONAL DRILLING FLUID MARKET" Mudex and its partners NorthStar and MayanStar are a privately owned and operated international drilling fluid company’s specialising in the manufacture and supply of high quality and environmentally friendly drilling fluid products for the Exploration, HDD, Mining, Water Well, Geotechnical and Civil construction industries. Mudex partnership with NorthStar and MayanStar make for a global group of companies with reach in United States of America, Canada, and Mexico, as well as access to a wide and exclusive range of quality products. This ensures Mudex can efficiently supply drilling fluid solutions to our customers on a global scale, in addition to our Partners we have distributors in Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe and South America all with extensive stock holding. While Mudex and is partners NorthStar and MayanStar are a global company we maintain a local identity in the areas they work. It has always been their ideology that they support the communities they work in and manufacture as much locally where possible, for example: NorthStar Fluids manufactures in the USA with most of the raw materials purchased locally in the USA, the equivalent occurs in Mexico with the MayanStar supply chains. Their long-term goal is to develop local decanting through to full functioning manufacturing facilities in key regions to provide economic stimulus and opportunities through employment of local labour.
With a clear strategy to provide a level of service unparalleled that continues to keep Mudex as the leader in our industry they have always strived to be at the forefront of technological advancements and having a strong local position that can provide fast, flexible, customised, and competitive product solutions to our customers through multiple manufacturing divisions. The staff have vast chemical knowledge and experience in their fields. With a proven track record of successful developments Mudex has continued over the past 10 years to innovate successful products into the drilling fluid market. With in-house chemists, multiple laboratories and testing facilities at our global offices ensures that we have full control over our product development and testing. In addition to their own in-house research and development team they have partnered with technical specialists and companies in the industry to find new ways of adapting technology to suit the wide-ranging challenges encountered in the field.
our debt by roughly $800 million, allowing us to invest in capital and further our efforts to provide tangible value to shareholders.” explains Olsen. “I anticipate that we will remain the largest drilling company in the world, which will put us in a very strong place going forward.”
Although the mining industry has had its trials and tribulations, the sector is in a much healthier place. Olsen has overseen Boart Longyear’s rise in tandem with the mining space and the firm is now poised to thrive in the industry. However, Olsen cannot forget the past and reflects on how his organisation has gotten to where it is today. “Mining is a secular industry and if you’re a supplier to the industry then you are in a hyper secular industry,” discusses Olsen. “The secularity tends to define this industry and our customers were all about deleveraging their own balance sheets at the time, and shareholders were clamouring for mining companies to return money to them and be more conservative.”
“One of the areas that they could save money on, in the short term, was on exploration activities and specifically drilling. The fundamentals in the mining industry are that if you don’t explore for new reserves then you don’t have anything to mine. That can only last for so long.”
Today, that has all changed. Boart Longyear’s customers are largely delevered, showcase robust balance sheets and have the ability to invest in their businesses. “There was significant consolidation in the gold industry through the second half of 2019, which also puts them
CATTA SERIOUSNESS PROFESSIONALISM RAPIDITY
The socio-economic, cultural, environmental reality in the emerging/developing countries being alike, to invest and operate in these countries and become successful is quite a challenge.
Very early we have understood that in order to face this challenge in our industry, we had to have the following trio creed: SERIOUSNESS – PROFESSIONALISM – RAPIDITY.
The SERIOUSNESS is a fundamental element that has imposed on us a marketing that relies on the choice of serious partners, who share a common attitude of strict compliance in all circumstances with the laws and regulations that govern their activities and the commitments made. In our company, we do not compromise seriousness in our daily activities.
The PROFESSIONALISM is another fundamental element, that focuses on the perfect understanding of the trade practices in our industry. The anticipation and pro-activity with a shared awareness by the all the team that, in a highly competitive context and a globalised world, the partner who chooses us must be rid of all worries or concerns for their supply chain and the clearing of material and equipment.
The RAPIDITY is the last element of our creed since it would be useless to be SERIOUS and PROFESSIONAL if the SPEED in execution is not there to crown everything.
www.catta-sarl.com
SERIOUSNESS PROFESSIONALISM RAPIDITY
Created in 1996, CATTA is a group of companies headquartered in Mali, with office in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Our actitivities include consignment, international transport, handling, freight forwarding and customs clearance.
Some of the large projects completed while working with our partners:
• Hydroelectric and thermal plants • Mining, Road Construction projects,
Telecommunications projects • Industries (Cement Plants, Paint Factories etc...) • The execution of express shipments, receipts, and deliveries of medication and vaccines, spare parts, raw materials and equipments of security for both national and international institutions and companies.
www.catta-sarl.com
mohameddiane@gmail.com
CATTA MALI Sarl
Sogoniko Commercial Derriere les Halles de Bamako B.P.E. 1044 – Bamako, Mali
T: (00223) 20 23 94 68/20 22 11 66 M: (00223) 90 73 73 03 catta@orangemali.net
CATTA COTE D’Ivoire Sarl
Treichville face a la SOLIBRA Immeuble “LA BALANCE” Boulevard VGE au 2eme Etage
– JEFF OLSEN, CEO, BOART LONGYEAR
Grainger Canada
Focus on what matters. Let us handle the rest.
We are committed to providing you with the proactive solutions and supplies you need.
For over 130 years, we have been enhancing our solutions and services so you can continue to keep your people safe and your operations running smoothly.
Through our North American network we are able to provide you with better insights, knowledge, and expertise specific to your industry.
This process is driven by our desire to continuously provide reliable, bestin-class safety, facility maintenance, and industrial supplies so you feel supported and can focus on what matters to you.
on stronger financial footing,” explains Olsen. “As a business, Boart Longyear was poorly prepared for the downturn. Now, we are a much leaner business and are better focused on serving our customers and giving them what they need. We have a better understanding of where the market is and what the market requires. The last thing, which is a substantial difference between 2014 and now, is that we have been able to grow GDS, our technology division.” GDS is focused on redefining the future of mineral exploration through innovative and emerging technologies delivered through industry-leading products and services. “GDS consists of tools that are used to gather appropriate information downhole about the hole itself and about the drilling. These are tools that already existed in the mining industry, but we’ve introduced our own tools that are better in many ways. We’ve changed our strategy from 2014 from one of just being the preferred driller in the space to we want to help our customers build our ore body knowledge. We do that by drilling and making tools that are more efficient and we also do it by the use of technology. This is a big difference in our business going forward.”
PROACTIVE APPROACH
With a history of being innovators in the drilling industry, the company recognises its place as a leader in drilling methods. “We don’t try to be everything to everyone, and we don’t try and address everything
GRAINGER.CA
TOGETHER AT THE RIGHT TIME” – JEFF OLSEN, CEO, BOART LONGYEAR
in the industry but the things that we do well are where we want to be the leaders in,” says Olsen. “The fact that our newest drill rigs have been well received is great, as well as our GDS Group and we’ll see over the next few years just how important these technologies will become. They provide huge cost benefits to our customers but also help stitch together all the different datasets of information they get about their own ore body in what we call a unified ore body knowledge. When you get full-service information from Boart Longyear drilling, then you have a unified set of information about your ore body in much less time and at a significantly cheaper cost.”
To those on the outside looking in, mining is often regarded as an industry that is old school and doesn’t embrace new technology. While that might be an exaggeration, Olsen agrees that mining is not as quick as other industries to leverage the latest
Petersen inc.
Petersen Incorporated is one of the foremost advanced manufacturing and machining facilities in the world. With modern equipment and capabilities, we have partnered with some of the largest and most recognisable companies around- and are proud to call Boart Longyear a partner.
We congratulate them on their continued success in the advancement of the drilling and mining industry.
Like Boart Longyear, we have many years’ experience in the mining industry, but are also diversified to serve a variety of industries including nuclear, entertainment, aerospace, petrochemical, and hydro to name a few. Petersen Inc. offers complete fabrication, advanced manufacturing, precision machining, design engineering and warehouse/ distribution/3PL services to a variety of customers.
For over 60 years, our team at Petersen Inc. is dedicated to creating the highest quality, on-time products- with complete customer satisfaction. We have locations in Ogden, UT and Pocatello, ID which house 634,000 sq. ft. manufacturing/machining space and over a million sq. ft. in warehousing and distribution.
Are you looking for a safe, reliable, and financially secure partner with the capabilities and capacity to get your job done right? Give Petersen Inc. a call today.
www.peterseninc.com
innovations but does expect this to change in the near future as miners look to explore for reserves that will be deeper. “I think the influence of technology is growing rapidly,” he explains. “I believe it’s fair to say that the mining industry is slower adopters of new technology than others. However, once you get a critical mass in adoption then it moves very quickly. We are at that point now where to be competitive and to stay ahead, companies will have to innovate and are increasingly looking to new technology.”
Boart Longyear maintains several key, strategic partnerships and has combined the supply chains for its products and drilling services business together to form one global supply chain. “When we look for partners, it is about the ability to be compliant — it is non-negotiable,” says Olsen. “We work in some tough parts of the world and in our business compliance is key. This is consistent with the way that we approach safety. Another core value is innovation. We know that the way we drill and do business today in 2021 is not the same way we’ll do it in 2031, so it is important that we are aware of the latest technologies that can drive us forward.”
Moving forward, Olsen is full of optimism about the future of Boart Longyear. “I’m very excited about the next few years,” he maintains. “We will now have a balance sheet and a capital structure that supports growth, and we have an industry that is poised for significant growth, so it is all coming together at the right time.
The ability to invest in our business as the industry grows is important; however, we will always maintain a disciplined approach to our balance sheet. We have the ability to invest in that growth and that investment will ultimately drive value to our stakeholders. There’s a very bright future ahead.”
Phone: +1 801 972 6430 Fax: +1 801 977 3374 www.boartlongyear.com
Ansell
Mining consists of several complex processes that require a keen focus on safety. Whether working in extraction and exploration, crushing ore, or preparing and transporting product, Ansell is the ideal safety partner when identifying the hazards and risks associated with each task and equipping mining workers with innovative application-specific glove and body protection solutions from our extensive product portfolio.
Whether facing risk of cut, impact, abrasion, chemical or other hazards, Ansell can help reduce on-the-job injury and deliver the comfort, performance and protection needed to keep workers safe and productive throughout the day. In open-cast and underground mining, where hazard types are different due to the peculiarities of the materials and instruments used, Ansell begins its process of reducing, mitigating or removing risk with a proper risk assessment. Because the most appropriate PPE solutions to protect against hazards will vary based on each individual company’s unique set of needs, applications and processes, AnsellGUARDIAN®, our free consultative service, helps companies select and implement the right PPE solutions to improve safety, increase productivity and reduce costs.
The strategic relationships and feedback received from our key partners allow our partners to achieve hand and body safety excellence through Ansell’s continuous research, product development, and customer support.
At Ansell, we strive to provide integrated solutions for our partners, from risk assessment to innovative hand and body protection, with the purpose of protecting companies most valuable assets, it’s people.
