February 29, 2024

We’ve always enjoyed designing layouts for facilities and assisting our clients in improving their core logging workflows. But it gets truly exciting when the designs become a reality! We’ve just completed a sizable facility and we’re looking forward to seeing their results as it goes into full production.  How we got to this point is not only a story of design but a story of equipment. 

The issue we had run into in the past was being unable to find equipment specifically geared for what are commonly known in North America as core shacks (we like to call them core processing facilities as who wants to work in a shack?). The typical material / box handling equipment is made with warehouses and cardboard boxes in mind. This equipment is not fit for purpose given the awkward sizes of core boxes, the significant weight (think overweight suitcases) of core boxes and the activities done at a geologist’s logging station. Since we could not find the equipment, we took the logical (maybe crazy?) step to build it ourselves. And thus in 2022, CoreLift™ came to be. 

We wanted equipment starting with the fully adjustable logging tables that:  

    1. Were fully adjustable for a diverse workforce. 
    2. Would remove health & safety hazards including pinch points. 
    3. Would be very robust and durable. 
    4. Would include state-of-the-art lighting. 
    5. Would assist in integrating digital technologies (such as scanners).
    6. Were manufactured in Canada. 
    7. Would improve productivity (as key to our design work is that we believe that knowledge gain should be matched with productivity gains in modernizing core processing facilities). 

These goals have not changed for CoreLift™ equipment. And the equipment helps us at Northern Prosperity achieve designs that once realized do reduce health & safety risks, increase productivity and improve the work environment. 

 

Eric Maag, President

OCTOBER 12, 2022

I might be the only employee who was invited to represent the company without being hired by the company. Sounds crazy, no?
I found this job online while seeking employment as a new graduate mechanical engineering student with little experience in Canada, especially in Northern Ontario. This was one of the seemingly thousand jobs where I applied. But now my feeling is: it is not one of the thousand, it is the best of the thousand.
I was interviewed four times by Eric and Debapriya, with a lot of questions, background checks and academic work reviews… Honestly, I was not expecting to get this job. But as time progressed, I realized I just might.
Still didn’t answer the first statement, that’s where I’m heading.
After the second interview, I realized that I may be near the top of the applicants. In the third interview, they offered me a ticket to the Prospectors and Developers Annual Conference (PDAC) as part of the CoreLift™ team. I was shocked because I just registered to PDAC as a student ambassador and was not sure how important PDAC is to the industry. I was heading to PDAC without having met the team in person (I didn’t even know where the office was located) and mostly I still did not know: will they offer me a job or not? But I took their offer to get familiar with the company and experience PDAC to its fullest.
When I first went into the PDAC convention, I was worried and nervous. To be part of such a big conference and trade show as a newcomer is quite difficult. But all went smoothly when I met the CoreLift™ team. I realized they considered me as a part of the group and held me within their circle. They introduced me to the public – but I am still not sure if I will get this job!
Oops hold on, I didn’t mention my job title yet. I do have the job. I’m the Product Specialist for CoreLift™.
Probably should also mention my name and education. I’m Aakash Aravind and recently completed a Masters of Engineering from Laurentian University.
I have been working with CoreLift™ for the last three months. Within this short time, I have learned a ton of new skills including around project management and engineering design. I enjoy being in a firm where there is passion and leadership that respects my opinion. Like we say, “give respect – earn respect.”
If I could offer some advice, do not be afraid to be part of small companies, it is the best path to grow your career. There is a saying we have that is appropriate, “it is better to be the head of a cat than the tail of a lion.”

 

Aakash Aravind

NOVEMBER 26, 2021

Over the last 12 years, I’ve actively participated in Movember by growing a mustache during the month of November and by raising funds for research in prostate and testicular cancers as well as supporting men’s mental health.
In the last 5 years, I’ve spent a lot of time in our local Cancer Centre (and unfortunately as a patient with a malignant thymoma). Don’t get me wrong, the facility is great, the technology is advanced and the doctors, nurses, volunteers and support staff are all awesome. They are passionate about what they do and helping folks through their cancer struggles.
Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be spending some time in radiation “treatments”. Medical science has really evolved so actually this is not that bad of an experience. And being in a Cancer Centre, you quickly realize there is always someone worse off than you.
So why am I sharing this? Simply because I’m hoping a few (maybe even a lot!) more men get to live their lives without knowing these machines or having to be treated at their local Cancer Centre. Please support the Movember cause and donate generously. Thanks.

 

Eric Maag, President

JULY 26, 2021

It has been a year since I started working at Northern Prosperity as a business intern. And I must say the journey has been terrific so far. As my first exposure to the mining business, I remember coming to the company with a fear of the unknown. Eric, being a truly genuine person, walked me through what Northern Prosperity was about and what it meant to the community, as Sudbury is synonymous with mining. I was told that my role in the company would be dynamic, and my daily activities would not be confined. This was not very clear to me initially but as time went on, I began to comprehend what Eric meant by a “dynamic role”.
I have worked on a wide range of projects from improving mining operations, to brining innovative technology to mineral exploration, to offering support with market research and innovative business development strategies, to doing strategic assessments, to assigning with planning and providing clients with specialized marketing materials. It has been interesting to be a part of a team where every project undertaken is unique in its own way and presents fresh new challenges. I had the opportunity to conduct a survey for a mining innovation project, obtain both qualitative and quantitative feedback and provide analytical data to the team, all of which benefitted the client.
With the Covid pandemic and businesses adopting to the new virtual method of doing things. Northern Prosperity had our first virtual exhibit in May 2021. During the virtual CIM conference (as part of the Northern Ontario Showcase), we managed to connect virtually with members of the mining community, and I attended some interesting talks like digital transformation within the mining sector and, using Machine Learning algorithms for optimizing dust control. Eric and I put together presentations on digitalizing core logging activities and health and safety within the core logging workflow.
Having worked in both a multinational corporation and a SME like Northern Prosperity, the focus and emphasis are quite different. The SME is fast paced in terms of decision-making and execution. It can provide a wider scope of job responsibilities while encouraging talent to take on leadership roles. From my experience so far, the work never gets monotonous in a SME! Working for a business that is quick to adapt to changing market demands can lead to great opportunities for innovation, but one must be ready to take up new challenges. So far the journey has been rewarding and I’m looking forward to more future endeavors.

Mining innovation made practical

Debapriya Chatterjee, Business Analyst and Coordinator

OCTOBER 27, 2020

When we take on projects at Northern Prosperity, one of our favourite parts is the uncertainty. After almost four years, every day reveals a new opportunity, a new project, or a new group of great people with whom to collaborate to help improve our industry.
Personally, I’ve never wanted to work somewhere static, providing the same services and knowledge year after year. Although I recognize that “rinse and repeat” makes significant revenues at a lower price point, I feel it neither challenges a consulting firm to improve nor sparks passionate engagement.
We’re happy that every project we undertake is unique – just like, as we say in the industry, every mine and every deposit is unique. We do have some tools we’ve built that regularly support our projects. For example, we’re strong on performing surveys from within specialized teams to across multiple mining operations, gaining critical quantitative and qualitative feedback (see sample survey image below). We have the tools, but it is only through deep collaboration with our clients that we can apply them effectively; the applications and requirements of each project are so diverse that no size fits all!
Let’s take core logging operations as an example where we have gained expertise through our experience. With the wide network of associates and vendors we engage, we can assist to incorporate emerging technology into the actual workflow in both the mining and the mineral exploration industry. In general, the aim is to minimize costs and health & safety hazards while maximizing efficiency, productivity and knowledge gain. But there is no one single best way (or one miracle “digital transformation” technology) to approach the core logging workflow for all situations and objectives. We know that an understanding both the logging personnel’s day-to-day activities and the varied data users requirements can drive to real improvements across the board. It’s why we recommend taking the time to study the workflow as well as the knowledge/data that is impactful/valuable to be gained from the core of that specific operation whether relating to geology, rock mechanics or metallurgy.
Each project teaches us that the best way forward is… Well, it depends. But what we have found is that – through proper assessment and deep collaboration – we can synthesize towards winning solutions.

 

Eric Maag, President

JULY 23, 2020

So much has happened in this last year at Northern Prosperity that the trendy business term “pivot” does not begin to cover the shifts we have gone through since we moved into our fully renovated offices on Regent Street near the famous Four Corners in the south end of Sudbury.
We moved into the new offices with an engineering firm as a sublet and all was going swimmingly well with major projects on the mining innovation front, market assessments and market entry/commercialization efforts. We were engaged in the North American mining community with attendance and participation in many conferences (remember those?) across Canada and the United States.
Working closely with some of the leading innovators in the mining and mineral exploration space as well as with great multinational mining companies gives us an exceptional balance of understanding the latest technologies and their applications in the “real-world” context of operational mineral exploration, mining and environmental stewardship.
When we attended PDAC (Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada annual conference) in early March with many of our clients and friends, hand sanitizers were out in force but little did we know the severity from a health & safety and an economic perspective that the pandemic would bring forth a mere week later! We entered a period with such drastic swings that advice given in the morning would change into a different course of action by the afternoon. Companies had to make some hard decisions such as laying off staff and halting projects in the works, which led us to make some difficult choices as well. The engineering firm was gone as a sublet and there was a significant impact on revenues by April which put the company under some strain.
So we did pivot (I always think of Ross on Friends moving a couch whenever I see the term – “PIVOT!”) and looked at other projects closer to home or beyond our usual scope of activities. Given the great entrenchment of health & safety practices within the mining industry, it was no surprise that we could collectively be effective in weathering the pandemic storm and continue to operate our mines with only minor disruptions. From a small business perspective, having the support of government, in particular from the programs at the federal level, was timely assistance to our business. Before long, projects and client activity returned and I’m pleased to note that we are back to operating at capacity.
In that light, we took a step to give some opportunities to the next generation, first working with Cambrian’s International Business program by leading a capstone project and then by bringing one exceptional student into our team as a business intern.
Welcome Debapriya to Northern Prosperity! Just know that businesses can change quickly so be ready to… move couches.

Eric Maag, President