Three International Women’s Day stories
Conquering both work & home a “wild ride” for mine manager BY ISABELLE SOUTHCOTT
T
exada Island’s Sarah Bond is a pioneer in the Canadian mining industry. As the manager of Texada Imperial Limestone, she is one of only a handful of female mine managers in Canada. Sarah is 36 years old, married and mother to fouryear-old and six-year-old boys. She also has a 15-yearold stepson and a 12-year old stepdaughter. “Managing a household and a mine has been a wild ride, but it can be done,” she says.
Imperial Limestone
MAKING AN IMPRESSION: When Imperial Limestone’s mill manager Sarah Bond speaks to Texada and Powell River school groups, the girls realize that women can do this job, too. Though only a handful of mine managers in Canada are women.
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Imperial Limestone supplies limestone into the Pacific North West for applications such as chicken feed, glassmaking, and cement production. The site on Texada Island has been in operation since the 1940s. Imperial Limestone is a community partner with the Texada Salmon Enhancement Society and other local non-profit groups. The Texada Island site has 11 employees who are union members and three staff.
Sarah didn’t plan to work in mining. With a Bachelors in Materials Engineering from McMaster University, she graduated in 2008. “My degree had more of a focus on an odd combination of metallurgy and biomaterials research,” she says. “By happy accident I ended up in mining and have loved it ever since.” March 8 After graduation she began working for Lafarge Canada Inc. in small sand and gravel pits in Edmonton. When Lafarge hired Sarah, they placed her in their leadership development program, a management training program that exposes employees to all different areas of the business. Her first job was as a labourer; she also did some quality control and minor maintenance tasks at the Onoway Wash Plant. “That job involved a lot of shovelling,” she said. She was transferred to Texada Island in 2010 to work as an operational technician for Lafarge at their Texada operation but another opening caught her eye. She moved into the Drill and Blast Supervisor role where she worked for seven years. Her long-time drill and blast crew members helped her gain a wealth of knowledge and
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