Two mining suppliers from Sudbury – Ionic Engineering and Talos Steel – have teamed up to set up operations in Chile.
Two Sudbury-based mining suppliers – Ionic Engineering
and Talos Steel – have joined forces to establish a presence in Chile.
The new venture, called Ionic Tecnologias, will be located in Santiago, the capital city, and will represent both companies’ interests there.
Ionic Engineering is an engineering and
manufacturing firm that focuses on designing and building custom equipment for various industrial uses worldwide. Their work includes copper stripping, anode prep, and special robotic handling systems. They also carry out technical and safety checks on automated machinery.
Talos Steel, part of the Sudbury-based Anmar Group of companies, is an industrial fabricator with a focus on mining projects.
Both firms have done quite a bit of work in Chile before, but “one of the big needs for Chileans is quick response time,” said Eric Haapamaki, applications engineering manager at Ionic Engineering. “Another is a local presence. That’s always been a barrier for us despite us having the technical expertise and experience, so this office will really help us to break that barrier to entry.”
Ionic Engineering and Talos Steel have collaborated before in Sudbury but not yet in Chile.
The partnership aims to provide “turnkey, single point of contact EPC-style project delivery,” according to Haapamaki.
The manufacturing of robotic systems will happen at Ionic Engineering’s facilities in Sudbury and Cambridge, Ontario. Talos Steel will handle fabrication services.
“Talos Steel is also able to offer the installation services that we need,” said Haapamaki.
Chile is their main focus because it holds most of South America’s copper mining industry. Still, they’re looking ahead at opportunities in Peru and Brazil as well.
“Pairing our industrial know-how with Ionic’s automation experience puts this new venture in a very unique competitive position,” pointed out Frank Grossi, vice-president at Talos Steel. “Mining companies from Canada and the Sudbury Basin in particular are very well respected abroad.”
Ionic Tecnologias has brought on Pablo Rivas to lead their Santiago office. He’s a metallurgical engineer with an MBA who has worked for both Codelco and BHP Billiton.
This story originally appeared in the September edition of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal.
