The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor Hudbay may be headquartered in Toronto, but its foundation remains in northern Manitoba. Ensuring prosperity in this mineral-rich region is, naturally, a top priority for the company. Which is where Brad Lantz comes in. Following last week's retirement of Tom Goodman, chief operating officer and senior vice-president, Lantz became the highest-ranking Hudbay official based in Flin Flon. It's a large burden to shoulder but one that Lantz, vice-president of the company's Manitoba business unit, relishes. 'It's really a responsibility for the business today and the business for the future,' he says in describing his job. Lantz is upbeat about Hudbay's Manitoba prospects, with the Lalor and Reed properties near Snow Lake being readied for production. 'Within Flin Flon and Snow Lake, exploration success has been the core of really the lifeblood of the company here, and I see that continuing,' he says. 'So the challenge for us is to maintain sustainable mining in this area for many years to come.' Lantz's ascension to Hudbay's man in Flin Flon follows years of steady progression up the corporate ladder. A native of Hanover in southern Ontario, he joined HBMS, which would later become part of Hudbay, as a young geologist in 1987. Beginnings He began his career with the company at the now-defunct Ruttan Mine in Leaf Rapids, where he had already been working for several years with Sherritt Gordon Mines Ltd. In time Lantz, who transferred to Flin Flon in 1996, moved from geology to engineering and onto progressively higher levels of responsibility within the company. From 2003 to 2007, he was the mine manager at 777. From 2007 to 2011, he was vice-president of mining for all of Hudbay. Last fall Lantz was promoted again, this time to his current position in charge of Manitoba operations. See 'Lantz...' on pg. 6 Continued from pg. 1 Not bad for a man who wasn't even sure which career path to follow when he first enrolled at Ontario's University of Waterloo. 'I was like any other young student _ I wasn't sure what I wanted to do,' Lantz recalls. After two years of studies, Lantz had to choose a major. He did, and in 1982 graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Earth Sciences. 'It's been very rewarding, it was a good choice looking back on it,' he says. Today, the challenges of mining are what appeal to Lantz. 'I always like challenges and it's always changing,' he says. 'I think mining, in the number of years that I've been in (it), there have been remarkable improvements. We've come a long ways in safety _ tremendous improvements there. And generally, mining in itself, with technological advances there have been lots of improvements and I can see that coming again in the future. So (there is) lots of change, lots of growth and lots of opportunities in mining.' Of course mining is not always a sector that inspires optimism, as Lantz points out. But he says that in recent years 'mining has been much more upbeat and has been quite successful, and quite successful in the Flin Flon-Snow Lake area.' 'Miss him' Lantz is quick to commend the retired Goodman, saying Hudbay 'will miss him and miss what he brought to the table for us.' Goodman may not be totally out of the Hudbay decision-making process, however, as he is seeking a position on the company's board of directors. Goodman has been replaced as chief operating officer by Alan Hair. Though formerly based in Flin Flon, Hair will handle his new duties from the Toronto office, where he has worked in recent years. Goodman could not be reached for comment for this article.
