ELK VALLEY A vision for the future Boyd Payne discusses the future of Elk Valley Coal by TANYA LAING MOORE
ELK VALLEY VISIONARY: Boyd Payne, Elk Valley Coal Corporation’s president and CEO, is looking to reposition the
company on the global market. —photo courtesy Elk Valley Coal Corp.
Elk Valley Coal Corporation—jointly owned by Fording Canadian Coal Trust and Teck Cominco Ltd.—is one of the world’s industry leaders in coking coal production. As such, the person at the helm of the corporation must possess strong leadership abilities and a vision for the company. Boyd Payne, appointed president and CEO in August of 2006, is such a leader.
Payne was most recently vice-president of marketing for BHP Billiton in Singapore. Prior to joining that company, he held a similar position with Fording and has also held several senior positions with Manalta Coal Ltd. and Gregg River Resources Ltd. He has a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the University of Victoria.
Kootenay Business recently talked with Payne about his background, his vision for Elk Valley Coal and what it is that sets the company apart.
Kootenay Business: You were appointed to your position in August. How has it been so far?
Boyd Payne: Great. I worked for Fording before. I was vice-president of marketing with Fording in the ’90s.
KB: So how long have you been with the company all told?
BP: I guess about six years. In 2001, I left and joined a company called BHP Billiton—who is the world’s largest integrated mining company—and I moved to Singapore for five years, looking after their coking coal operations. When Jim Popowich (the former CEO and president of Elk Valley Coal) let it be known that he was retiring, I thought coming back here to do this would be a wonderful thing.
KB: Where are you from originally?
BP: Coleman, Alberta. My mother still lives there.
KB: This is coming home for you, then.
BP: Full circle.
KB: Tell me a little about your background. What was your first job?
BP: I graduated as a chemist in 1972. My first job was actually in the oil business in Winnipeg in a refinery. Two years later, in 1974, I went to Coleman—my first job in the coal business.
KB: You keep coming home.
BP: I guess so. And I’ve been in the coal business since 1974.
KB: Do you feel you know the business inside and out yet?
BP: The last 15 years or so, I’ve been on the marketing side. I worked my way through to a general manager level of operations in the ’80s and then I switched into marketing—yeah, I guess I do know lots about it (laughs). I’ve been an exploration manager in the ’70s and through the operating side in the ’80s and worked in business development for a while. I switched over to marketing and discovered that you need to know a whole lot about the market to succeed in this business; especially here in Canada, we need to understand that it’s a big world out there—and it’s a fascinating world.
KB: What has been one the greatest things you have learned in the business? What has surprised you?
BP: The industry’s gone through a real transformation in the last five or 10 years because of consolidation—I’m talking now about the coking coal world. If you look at high-quality coking coal, the global market is about 140 million tonnes; Elk Valley Coal is a 16 per cent participant in the market, so we’re the second largest player in the global coking coal market—we’re second behind BHP Billiton in Australia who owns about 35 per cent. What’s happened here is that we’ve all—with the consolidation—grown stronger and have needed to understand our role in the market a lot better. When we were smaller and more fragmented, we were probably more production focused—and more tonnes is always the right thing—whereas once you get to a certain size—I think about five players control about 70 per cent of the global market now—you start to realize you have to participate in that market responsibly. You have to understand the mechanisms that are at play and where you fit. Elk Valley Coal is a company that is gifted with long-term reserves, so we’ll be around for a long time.
KB: What is it that sets Elk Valley Coal apart?
BP: We’re a great operating company.
KB: How so?
BP: The companies that came together to form Elk Valley Coal were all strong operating companies, and Jim Popowich in the last three years has pulled it together into a single entity; now my job is to take it the next lap, which is to reposition us in the marketplace—to understand the value of our quality and brand ourselves appropriately. Basically, we’re strong miners and what we need to do is have the world recognize the true value of our products.
KB: How do you do that?
BP: Well, you do a lot of hard work. Basically, what we do is we take a look at our reserves and we take a look at our current suite of products and we take a look at our customers’ needs so we understand them fully. Then we make adjustments so that the brands we put out are consistent in quality—they’re high quality—and they meet the specific needs of the customers. So between the quality and the critical mass we have as the second largest player, we occupy a pretty valuable space in the global marketplace.
KB: What is your vision for the company?
BP: Well, I think we’re going to be a high-quality hard coking coal producer that every customer in the seaborne coking coal market needs and appreciates.
KB: And so what is it that you bring to the position that will bring your vision to fruition?
BP: I’m really a team guy. I like to surround myself with very clever and capable people and give them the opportunity to do great work. We have a great team of people. Right now it’s a matter of alignment; I need to express my vision to these people so that they understand better who we are and what we need to do, and then get my people out to execute (the plans). And I think that process is well underway.
KB: Recently, Elk Valley Coal won a major award from the Alberta Chamber of Resources. Can you tell me about that?
BP: Absolutely. It was for our Cardinal River (Sphinx Creek) operation. There was a pit that they turned into a lake, and the research that was done to create it was that significant that the Alberta Chamber of Resources chose us out of all the projects on the go as the best. I was at the function when they gave us the award; the young fellow—everybody’s young to me (laughs)—Marc (Symbaluk), who actually had spearheaded a lot of the work, spoke on our behalf and was I ever proud of him. It was a significant award, and you could tell. These people who get involved in this side of the business are super dedicated, and he is certainly one of them. It’s an effort that’s going on at all of our mines. I think you need a social licence to operate and clearly reclamation is part of it.
KB: So environmentalism is part of the vision of Elk Valley Coal?
BP: Absolutely. I call it the social licence to operate, and really, as a company, we need to participate in communities so that our people are working for a strong company and living in communities that are good for their families. That’s what has to be the attraction to our company: the opportunity for a lot of growth in the job. But more than that, it’s a great place—the Elk Valley—and we have to participate in making it a great place.
Key Mining contacts
Teck Cominco Metals Ltd. Teck Cominco is a diversified mining company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The company is a world leader in the production of zinc and metallurgical coal and is also a significant producer of copper, gold and specialty metals.
Teck Cominco is committed to creating value for its shareholders while continually improving its performance as a responsible corporate citizen and a leader in its industry. The company pursues development of new technologies that make mining more economically and environmentally sustainable and strives to be a Partner of Choice wherever it operates and with whomever it is associated.
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Located in Vancouver, Westshore Terminals Limited Partnership is Canada's leading coal export facility and the largest dry bulk terminal on the west coast of the Americas. The next two years will be a period of transition for Westshore Terminals. By early 2009, a CDN $45 million equipment upgrade, now underway, will be completed bringing with it greater efficiencies of operation and a higher yearly throughput capacity at 29 million tonnes.
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