Impala Canada

If you were listening to 999 The Bay & Country 105 last Wednesday, you may have heard Impala Canada’s Chief Corporate Officer, Erin Satterthwaite, lending her voice to the annual 36 Hours of Cheer in support of the Thunder Bay Christmas Cheer Fund. This year, they raised $276,040. Impala Canada is proud to work with our valued vendors like Manroc Developments Inc., Pinewood Ford Ltd., CSL Environmental & Geotechnical Ltd. and Commercial Transport and Intercity Industrial, to sponsor the volunteer-led organization that provides toys for children living in poverty and hampers filled with food for families over the holidays.

Our Mine Rescue team welcomed eight new recruits last month, all of whom successfully completed their introductory course in early November. One of them, Jaimee Zoccole, is from our Site Services crew. Very soon after passing her course, Jaimee found herself on a Mine Rescue team mission. She helped to inspect the team’s breathing apparatuses and standard equipment without missing a beat, but she admits to her nerves creeping in since it was her first assignment. The mine rescue team works together to ensure the safety of everyone at site and for Jaimee, it was a learning experience like none other. “I thank my team, Dillion Bradley, Rock Malenfant, Hector Espinosa and Huntur Ojala for looking out for me. I’ve now experienced firsthand how helpful it is to have a team from all parts of the organization working together to ensure that we are all safe.” Thanks to Jaimee for sharing her story of her first Mine Rescue mission and to the team of volunteers who ensure everyone is safe at site.

We did it! Together we raised $28,928 for four deserving charities: Dew Drop Inn Thunder Bay, Shelter House Thunder Bay, L'Arche Canada Foundation and the Sault Ste. Marie Soup Kitchen Community Centre! Thank you to everyone who came out to enjoy the Holidays Dinners and generously purchased raffle tickets. We are thrilled to share that each of those charities will receive a donation of $7,232. We’re so proud of our people.

Congratulations to Cody Vold, who received his 10 Years of Service Award for being a Mine Rescue volunteer for a decade! Cody has worked at Impala Canada since 2012 and is currently a Control Engineering Technologist with the Electrical team.    Thank you for helping to keep every safe at site, Cody! 

Employees were invited to a special surf ‘n turf Holiday Dinner and Raffle last night in our Dining Room to kick-off the holiday season. While gathering for some festive cheer, our Rec Committee hosted a charitable raffle for some awesome prizes – all generously donated by our wonderful vendors and suppliers. Our workforce really showed up: they have already raised more than $14,000! All of the proceeds will be donated to four charities, two local: Dew Drop Inn Thunder Bay and Shelter House Thunder Bay, two hometown charities nominated by employees, including L'Arche Canada Foundation and Sault Ste. Marie Soup Kitchen Community Centre. A HUGE thank you to the chefs and the entire Amik team for the delicious bacon-wrapped filet mignon, shrimp and scallops skewers, chicken risotto, manicotti in alfredo sauce, roasted fingerling potatoes, brown sugar-glazed carrots, and German chocolate cheesecake and donuts for dessert! Last year, we raised nearly $30,000 for four charities and we are aiming to exceed that total this year! The next Dinner & Raffle is December 4.

Studying chemistry at Ottawa’s Carleton University, Emberlynn Blondeel, daughter of Christopher Blondeel, P.Eng., is one of our Paving the Way Scholars. Before she left for school, she said she was most looking forward to living in a new city, meeting new people and experiencing campus life. “I hope to learn new things in classes that I find interesting, use newly-discovered study methods, and try my best,” she said. “I also hope to meet tons of new people in my first year, and get involved in the environment.” “This scholarship will help me pursue university while exploring my interests and immersing myself through on-campus living,” she added. Emberlynn is one of 13 scholarship recipients this year, in addition to the 14 students who were renewed for another year.

Mine Rescue Service Award: Joe King    Congratulations to Joe King, who is a Development Miner, Crew 1, and has been at Impala Canada for 14 years. He is celebrating five years of service as a Mine Rescue volunteer.     Congratulations Joe and thank you for looking out for everyone’s safety at site! 

On November 11, Canadians will honour our veterans and fallen soldiers and thank the women and men who have also sacrificed and given their service to keep our country safe. Impala Canada recognizes the significance of this day. Poppies are available at site at the Camp Steward’s office for employees. 

When we say LDI’s workforce is a diverse group of people, we are not kidding around.    Case in point: Manuel Manero Díaz.    Manny, or Manero, as some call him, started at LDI as a co-op student while he was studying mine engineering at Halifax’s Dalhousie University and today he is one of our Engineers-in-Training (EIT), and soon to become a P.Eng.    “Being an EIT at LDI has been truly eye-opening for me,” Manny said. “I’ve been all over – Tech Services, Surface, Drilling and Blasting and now Underground Operations (development and production mining). I’ve been given the opportunity to learn how to do the work and I have been trained to design. It’s a very cool opportunity.”    For Manny, the hands-on learning at LDI has been invaluable and he says his co-workers have taught him more than they know.     “I’ve worked with some incredibly knowledgeable and experienced operators at LDI who were willing to mentor me. They have been very generous and I count myself lucky,” he said.    His 14-14 rotation schedule means Manny can balance work, volunteering and home life with his girlfriend and their shared love of marathons, triathlons and travelling. 

With holiday season around the corner, we are planning two Holiday Dinners for our employees on November 27 and December 4, and more details will be revealed very soon.    At last year’s dinners, our employees’ generosity helped to raise nearly $30,000 that was split among two local Thunder Bay charities and two hometown charities nominated by employees.    This holiday season, we are proud to support the Dew Drop Inn Thunder Bay and Shelter House Thunder Bay again – and we want YOU TO NOMINATE two more hometown charities to receive the proceeds from our holiday raffle.     Check out this week’s Impala This Week for a link to tell us about a charity that deserves the proceeds and why. We will announce the selected charities ahead of the Holiday Dinners.