Aerial Logistics
Essential, timelessly
The aviation segment may well be the lifeline of the mining industry in Québec. Before even considering an aviators’ vital role in taking miners in the province’s most remote areas – where most of its critical minerals are located – one must appreciate the colossal effort made by airlines, charter, and cargo to ensure the safety of people endangered by the 2023 wildfires.
With operations strategically spread across the province to access bush areas affected by the fires – in Natashquan, Havre St-Pierre, Manic 5, Caniapiscau, Sept-Îles, and Schefferville – Air Tunilik assisted all stakeholders when the largest fires in the province’s history quickly spread in May. “Air Tunilik’s fleet comprises six-seat Beaver DHC-2 and nine-seat Turbo Otter DHC-3T, cementing our status as a premier bush plane operator in Québec and one of the largest in North America,” detailed Simon Contant, the firm’s President.
Reactivity, flexibility, and adaptability will undoubtedly remain keywords for the aviation segment in the coming months. Mining operations come with a set of hazards for personnel, and the guarantee of a quick response from an aerial firm is a key differentiating factor for miners when selecting a service provider. Out of Laval, OCTANT Aviation is a consulting firm established to support air carriers, airports, as well as public and private organizations for their aviation projects. Beyond being a strategic partner for mining firms, assisting with performance studies notably, Nathalie Tousignant, the firm’s president, also takes pride in her ‘SWAT team’. She detailed: “We operate a 24/7 operations center composed of dispatchers, reservations agents, and flight coordinators. If a worker needs to be evacuated for sickness or accident, we mobilize a specialized aircraft with medical staff to be there within a few hours.”
Unlocking opportunities through the air
The first of the many challenges that define mining supply chain logistics is access to exploration targets, deposits, and operations. Going thousands of kilometers north of the Abitibi, in James Bay, Radisson, and Nunavik, places that are rich in minerals coveted for electric vehicles, is by no means an easy task. With the critical minerals space providing opportunities across the value chain, the size of the freight, cargo, and charter market will most likely increase in the coming years, meaning more business for Québec’s air carriers.
Among the industry, Nolinor needs no introduction. Not just because the firm boasts the largest fleet of Boeings’ 737-200 in the world or its status as the official carrier of Agnico Eagle, but also because the firm is as present online as it is in the air: having reached a million followers on TikTok in 2023, only Ryanair has a larger social presence than the Montréal-based airline. The firm’s president, Marco Prud’Homme, touched upon the fundamentals behind the role of aviation going ahead: “If you look at any satellite picture of the earth at night, you will see that the only place that remains without lights is northern Canada. For the next 20 years, there will be lots of exploration and development in a region where there are few roads and limited sea access.”
Despite robust infrastructure, road, and sea networks, the distance between most mine sites in Québec continues to remain a challenge for operators to attract – and retain – personnel. Chrono Aviation, perhaps the fastest-growing airline in the history of Canada, noted that challenge. Having Glencore, Canadian Royalties, and ArcelorMittal as notable clients, Chrono virtually serves the full spectrum of the mining industry in Québec, particularly through its Boeing 737-200, Pilatus, and Beechcraft 1900D aircraft that are available for ad-hoc charter. Speaking to the importance of aviation as an answer to the talent crunch, president Vincent Gagnon detailed: “Employees would be discouraged if they had to commute to the mine by road. Québec's aviation industry is therefore vital, allowing mines to use fly-in fly-out services to support their operations and attract new talent.”
The fly-in fly-out model being that of choice for operators, it will not be surprising to see a workforce from the Montréal areas sent up North to take part in the rush for Québec’s critical minerals. Attracting rare talent will come at a cost. In the short-term, mining operators will have to balance exploration upsides with these new untraditional logistics expenditures. As put by Nathalie Tousignant: “The shortage of human resources has become a serious challenge for the mining industry. As such, mining organizations must gather personnel from several locations to bring them to the mine site. This situation makes fly-in fly-out logistics more complex and more expensive.”
Article header image courtesy of OCTANT Aviation Separator image courtesy of Air Tunilik