Schmidt points to the recent completion
of an elders’ housing project in Pinehouse
as a noteworthy example. Almost all of
the resources and personnel that went in-to
building the 1,100-square-metre facility
came from the local community.
“Except for one of the mechanical con-tractors,
everything else was done in
Pinehouse, which is pretty awesome,”
said Schmidt. “We employed a lot of ap-prentices,
helping them get to their next
level of skill development. Helping to cre-ate
more tradespeople is really needed in
the North.
“We also want to continue to develop
professionals from Pinehouse, not only la-bourers,
operators and tradespeople but al-so
management staff as well. We’re always
looking for opportunities to do this, and
government and industry are definitely no-ticing
that.
“Industry has actually asked us to share
some of our initiatives and some of our
systems with other communities as well to
support them in their own development.
That’s something that we are always very
interested in doing. It’s not just about de-veloping
Pinehouse – it’s also about helping
to develop the North.”
Another key value for PBN is stewardship
of the northern environment and balancing
resource use with sustaining the ecosys-tem
and traditional land use. For this rea-son,
Schmidt says, the company strives to
ensure its work is done in a safe and envi-ronmentally
responsible manner.
Schmidt notes that helping to reclaim
land used in industrial activities like min-ing
is something PBN participates in as
much as it can.
“We’re really interested in helping the
industrial sites reclaim a lot of their land
use back to its natural state,” said Schmidt.
“This is something that people have a strong
affinity towards, and we support that in any
opportunity that presents itself.”
Safety
PBN is a strong supporter of safety on the
job site.
“Safety is number one, and I know a lot
of companies and industries will say that,
but PBN really has another motivating fac-tor
behind this,” said Schmidt. “The resi-dents
of Pinehouse are the shareholders of
the company. They are also our employees,
so if people aren’t returning home safely at
the end of the day, then that’s a major prob-lem
not only for the individuals and their
families but also for the company and the
community as a whole. So safety is very,
very important.”
Cameco and Areva Resources Canada
are currently the biggest customers for
PBN, which provides the manpower and
equipment to build mine site pads, ponds
and roads for the uranium companies. The
Saskatchewan Department of Highways is
another major client.
“We have a very strong relationship with
Cameco in particular, and they’ve real-ly
helped to support us in our growth and
development,” said Schmidt. “We want
to be the contractor of choice in north-ern
Saskatchewan for civil earthworks and
environmental waste management, and
they’re in alignment with that as well.”
Some recent PBN projects include up-grades
to the Cigar Lake Airport earlier this
year, which involved resurfacing the airstrip
including the runway, taxiway and apron
and applying a dust suppression solution.
In 2016, PBN participated in the Cigar
Lake East Freeze Pad construction project
for Cameco. The company cut and filled ap-proximately
250,000 cubic metres of earth
to form a pond, freeze pad, drainage bench-es
and run-down channels. It also installed
a deep manhole and finished the proj-ect
by installing erosion control blankets
and hydroseeding.
MEMBER PROFILE
“We want to be the contractor of choice in
northern Saskatchewan for civil earthworks
and environmental waste management.”
– Garrett Schmidt, Pinehouse Business North
46 Think BIG | Quarter 4 2017 | saskheavy.ca