TIMMINS — When Linda Byron started in the mining industry, environmental concerns were not high on the list of priorities.
Now, 20 years after opening Blue Heron Environmental, she says the industry has completely turned around.
“When I started, environment was a bit of a side job. It was a side to safety or ventilation, and it was not really a full-time gig. You couldn’t even take it in school,” said Byron. “But now, places like Côté Gold have teams of 10, 15 environmental people because it’s just at the forefront.”
Blue Heron primarily provides environmental services to the mining sector, including environmental management services, assessments, and spill management.
It has 43 employees and offices in Timmins, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Red Lake, and Sault Ste. Marie, with support staff in the Toronto and Ottawa areas.
“I couldn’t have done that if we didn’t have the tools we have now to work remotely,” said Byron. “We’re all over the province.”
She said that switching to remote work during COVID-19 was a game-changer.
“It just changed the way we thought about how we can manage our business and how we work,” said Byron.
Being based out of Timmins made sense to Byron as she grew up in Iroquois Falls.
“I went away to school and then came back,” she said. “My family’s here, my parents are here, my kids, my siblings, everybody.”
The 20-year celebration is a way to acknowledge the work and the growth the company has seen and how things have changed.
“For me, it’s validating,” she said. “I look back and think, ‘How did that happen?’ It’s a bit surprising, and it just sort of validates that I knew what I was doing along the way.”
The support of other businesses in the industry has been something she is very grateful for.
“The local mining companies are always calling us for things, and it’s nice to have that,” she said.
— TimminsToday
