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My name is Mack, I am a 24-year-old geologist working in the BC mining industry who also manages EarthMovers Media, a media marketing company dedicated to the construction and mining industries. I grew up around heavy equipment and mining, my Dad and Grandpa worked for Finning Caterpillar for nearly 65 years combined. I was exposed to it all at a very young age, swinging wrenches with my Dad at Finning and at home. I managed to tear up a section of the Finning parking lot during my birthday party with a 320B excavator, sorry Dad.
Apart from my history with heavy equipment and Finning, I went to UBC for geology and am working as a mining geologist currently. I work underground for Pretivm at the Brucejack Gold Mine in northern BC.
At EarthMovers Media, where earth and iron meet social media, I'm not the first and definitely won't be the last to do it, but I'm building off of my unique history and following a deep-rooted passion. We essentially help companies tell their stories through the social media spotlight, from making dirt and equipment look sexy to highlighting the people within the company. We are the Canadian industry choice for companies growing into the digital marketplace.
The Industry as a Whole
I love this industry, I could watch a D10 cat shove earth all day. If you cut me I'd bleed yellow, CAT yellow, but that's just from my history with Finning. I'm thoroughly invested in this industry because it ultimately is the most rewarding to work in and is the most impactful in the sense you can positively change people's lives on any given project.
My Visit East
Ontario is on the other end of the spectrum compared to Western Canada. Western Canada is very resource driven, meaning mining dictates the economy solely. Coal, oil, copper, silver, and gold are all king. Mining is cyclical—when times are good, cash trickles down into local economies and more development happens. On the flipside, when mining slips into a down cycle, let's just say Ritchie Brother’s business gets good, real good.
My time spent in Ontario covered demolition to heavy civil utility jobs. Demolition was very interesting, the complexity of it all is mesmerizing. Demolition in the Toronto area is a true testament to the realization by developers of the expansiveness of current development and city limits. In other words, you want to build, make way for it with demolition. One facet of demolition I find very interesting is the decommissioning of coal-fired power plants. What once was a sole provider of energy is now a dirty history marked by large power plant exhaust stacks and massive concrete buildings. The end of an era is truly here for coal in Ontario.
Heavy civil earthworks and utilities are common in Alberta as it is in Ontario, big iron digging deep holes in other words. I'm still amazed to see a Cat 385 or Hitachi 870 clearing the way for utilities. Toronto definitely has aging infrastructure given its expansiveness, the complexity of replacing and updating it all is mind-boggling. We most certainly have similarities out West, but last time I checked we don’t have Cat 385 hoes digging up the neighbour's lawn for utility related work.
