Goldcorp Inc - The Road Ahead
Goldcorp Inc is among the top three in the field of gold mining and production. Although the company started as a junior exploration and development mining company in 1984 but the company has managed to achieve the heights that others only aspire of through its people centric policies. The company is based in Vancouver, Canada and has several projects in the pipeline.
Goldcorp is the lowest cost gold producer in the world and this is major strength in the success of the company. Red Lake Mine is the flagship project of the Goldcorp Inc and are now known as the world's richest gold mines. Goldcorp is already the biggest gold mining and production company of Canada. The company's management is very serious about increasing their strong hold on the Canadian market through their prestigious Eleonore project.
The company has made Claude Lemasson, Head of the Eleonore project. In fact, he is the head of all of the Goldcorp's projects in US and Canada. Lemasson has served the company for ten years and has vast experience in the industry working along the length and breadth of the industry though his career.
Éléonore project is situated in a remote part of Quebec that can be accessed only by helicopter. The shipping of equipments, machines, supplies, workforce and other essential things to the site is very difficult. Even with those stiff natural conditions to face, the company began upgrading its exploration camp there in 2007. Five drill rigs worked at the site for most part of the year. The results of initial drilling have been very promising. The further work that is ongoing at the site includes environmental studies for the feasibility of the project. Geotechnical and metallurgical sampling, the designing of the permanent infrastructure and its determination are other important things that are being carried out.
All these steps are the pre-requisite to exploring and preparing a mining site for production. It is a lengthy process and takes some years before actual production starts. Goldcorp is currently in the process on analyzing and determining the size of the mine and the amount of ore it has at Eleonore. So they are carrying analysis and modeling tests and studies. The company hopes to start production somewhere in 2011-12.
The company has grown organically very fast due to a spate of acquisitions it has made recently. The Wheaton River Minerals, then some part of Placer Dome Inc. The merger with Glamis Gold Ltd. was one move that pushed company into the top league as it added to the company's assets. Goldcorp Inc believes in the system of the people so it has a decentralized system of management. Responsibilities and decision-making authority is distributed from top to bottom and that helps inculcate entrepreneurial qualities in their employees, encouraging them to do something new.
The Goldcorp also invests heavily into the training and development programs of its employees, a testimonial to this is that every employee of Goldcorp at Eleonore project is involved in some kind of learning and workshops. It helps streamline the workforce.
Although, the competition is growing but Goldcorp is standing on firm foundations with a long-term vision. The company must keep growing the way it has done till now.