Business soaring for Gateway Helicopters.

While the sky seems to be the limit for mining exploration activity, the same could be said for North Bay's Gateway Helicopters.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

In 2004, Gateway employed 25 people and purchased 10 helicopters. Now it has 60 employees and 20 helicopters.

"I'd say that mining activity is probably making up about half of our business right now," says David Lauzon, president. "It's definitely on the rise and keeping us busy."

Although it offers related services such as chartered airborne surveys and transportation of exploration equipment through its bases in North Bay, Sudbury and Timmins, Gateway does business far beyond Northern Ontario. Clients have requested the company's services as far north as the Arctic, and as far south as Arizona.

Exploration-related business in Quebec has even been so brisk that the company recently established a new base in that province, with three employees in La Sarre.

The increased business and larger staff has made for some cramped quarters at Gateway's 3,600-square-foot head office at the North Bay airport. Even Lauzon is without an office.

As a result, Gateway is negotiating with the City of North Bay to construct a 12,000-square-foot facility near its current location. Lauzon would love to see work begin this spring, but anticipates it may be delayed until 2008 due to negotiation and logistical challenges.

The high level of activity in the mining exploration sector has led to fierce competition for pilots among charter companies. The scarcity has forced Lauzon to increase the salaries of his pilots and mechanics by nearly 40 per cent in the past year.

"These guys are getting a whole series of job offers nearly every week," he says. "We have to try and make sure that we keep the guys that we've got, which is becoming tougher and tougher to do."

However, while other companies are forced to look elsewhere for their employees, Gateway needs look no further than its own backyard. As part of an agreement with Canadore College, the company helps to educate up to 13 Helicopter Flight Training Program students a year, with graduates becoming professional helicopter pilots. This partnership has served Gateway well, as the company has hired nearly every graduate of the program in the last three years.

In an attempt to compensate for the lack of experience among new pilots, Lauzon says he has spent nearly $100,000 every six months for the last several years to provide training in handling new types of helicopters.

Given the company's strong focus on mining exploration and the frequent transportation of related equipment, Gateway purchased and repainted a non-functional drill rig for training purposes. During the winter months, pilots practice moving the drill rig with a helicopter for approximately 10 hours, so that they are prepared when the bulk of their annual exploration business arises in June.

"We're the only company in Canada, and quite possibly in North America, to have our own drill rig for training. We think it's things like this that make the difference in the quality of our pilots and that make us appealing to our clients."

While much of Gateway's attention is invested in the mining sector, the company also offers aerial forestry management services, though Lauzon says this business has quieted with the downturn of the industry. With an eye on this cyclical nature of resource-based industries, Lauzon is cautious about committing to any additional expansion. Not only does the shallow pool of employable pilots play a role in his hesitation, but so does the knowledge that a sudden downturn in the mining industry--"like another Bre-X," he says--would force the company to lay off half its staff.

"We're not going to be too aggressive. We're going to work with what we've got and stay generally where we are, I think. We're going to play it safe because we've already done a lot of growing, and let's face it, life is good now."

By NICK STEWART

Northern Ontario Business