Case Study

Cameco-Pinehouse Business North Business Development Project

In 2012, Cameco and the northern village of Pinehouse signed a collaboration agreement (CA) which provides the community with jobs, community investment payments and business through the village’s economic development arm Pinehouse Business North (PBN).

However, after several years of slow growth, it became clear that PBN required some help to take the business to the next level.

“PBN faced the challenge of bridging the needs of the community, while at the same time building a strong professionally managed organization,” says Kumar Balachandran, a Cameco project manager that works closely with PBN.

“As a community-based business, we have not only aspirations to be a competitive civil contractor, but we are also responsible to generate more wealth for the community and to create more employment opportunities for the people of Pinehouse,” says Garrett Schmidt, PBN’s business development manager.

Beginning in 2015, Cameco agreed to help PBN through a business development contract that focused on developing and implementing management procedures to increase PBN’s capacity and to successfully complete projects at Cameco and other sites.

This business development project was a collaboration between PBN and Cameco’s Corporate Responsibility and Major Projects teams. The project provided support to PBN as they executed three contracts at Cameco’s McArthur River site, including pairing PBN staff with Cameco staff in a mentor/mentee relationship. Cameco also provided funding for PBN to hire trainees, as well as develop and implement internal PBN procedures. This included equipment maintenance and project controls to ensure greater efficiency and safety. For these procedures, Cameco also made internal subject matter experts available to PBN to help them in the process.

“The timing—2015—was perfect,” said Balachandran. “That way, PBN was able to implement these procedures and best practices in ongoing jobs with Cameco.”

At the same time, Cameco also seconded an internal employee, Camille Pouteaux, from her role as a Specialist, SHEQ Programs at the Key Lake operation to help both Cameco and PBN implement the environmental waste services provision in the CA. Camille worked with Cameco’s sites to make sure they understood their commitments, and provided PBN with the expertise they needed to successfully undertake the work.

By the end of 2015, PBN’s environmental waste management crews were working at all four of Cameco’s northern sites, including having full time staff at two of those. This part of PBN’s business is seen as an area of future growth and one that can be a sustainable piece of business for them in the volatile resource sector.

The final piece of the project was to provide PBN a bridge loan so that they could purchase six pieces of equipment for their civil contracting projects.

All in all, the project was a win-win for Cameco and PBN. The systems and processes were put in place to enable PBN to be consistent and professional in the execution of contracts for Cameco and other clients.

“This project will also allow for more employment and investment opportunities for Pinehouse residents in the future, says Schmidt. “That will ultimately increase their quality of life.”

The benefits won’t end with this project. When Pinehouse and Cameco entered into their CA in 2012, they were entering into a partnership together. By helping develop PBN, Cameco in turn gets a stronger northern partner to work with that is able to complete larger and more complex projects to support its operations.