MineConnect has announced that Norbert Hoffmann, the founder and director of Novenco Consultants Ltd., will be inducted into the mining supply and service group's Hall of Fame in March.
Hall of Fame inductees are chosen for their lasting and impactful contributions to the Northern Ontario mining supply and service industry.
MineConnect announced Hoffmann's induction during its annual general meeting on Feb. 17.
Launched by Hoffmann in 1993, Sudbury-headquartered Novenco is a consultant and manufacturing firm specializing in refractory, corrosion resistant systems, coatings, concrete restoration, material sales, and consulting for the mining, industry and commercial sectors.
Novenco currently has offices in Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, and Timmins, but its expertise is used in projects around the world.
Hoffmann immigrated to Canada from Germany in 1963 at the age of 23 after completing a stint in the Navy.
A bricklayer by trade, he soon started his own general construction and masonry company before catering to the industrial and mining sectors in 1980.
“By 1994, he developed his own formula for the process to create and manufacture special polymer concrete tanks used in copper and zinc refineries,” MineConnect noted.
“Over time, Novenco has ventured into such areas as code industrial, foreign, plastics, wind turbines, chokers, as well as providing refractory bricks into markets such as sawmills and cogeneration facilities.”
MineConnect also announced its new board of directors for 2022. Its members are:
- Todd Domney (president), cofounder, treasurer and managing partner at Sumac Geomatics;
- Andre Dumais (vice-president), president, Ionic Mechatronics;
- Tracy Marsh Shore (treasurer), chief operating officer, Pilot Diamond Tools;
- Eddie Lamontagne, director of sales and business development, Timmins Mechanical Solutions;
- Kevin Kozar, principle engineer, Kozar Engineering;
- Jean Guy Coulombe, president, Velco Machining;
- John Febbraro, senior manager of business development and advisory, N1 Solutions;
- Ryan Matusch, vice-president, Equipment North; and
- Bruno Lalonde, president, NSS Canada.
MineConnect is an industry group representing hundreds of mining service and supply companies from across Northern Ontario.
