Security expert says attitudes changing

The head of a growing mining security company says industry attitudes toward security in the workplace are starting to change. Ray Rose, president of Sudbury- based Cambrian Alliance Protection Services, says mining companies are starting to take theft more seriously.

“I have to continually remind people when we’re doing a security set up for an operation that we’re dealing with flipping gold here,” he says in an interview.

Rose says more and more mines are being run by younger executives, who come from the senior management ranks of a company.

Traditionally, mine security, especially in the gold sector, has been lax.

“I’ve put in and set up basic security systems for base metal operations that had a lot more security than gold mines,” he adds.

Rose blames the questionable security situation on companies that view security as a non-productive service. Over and above that, he says there has always been an absence of a quality security contractor that specialized in mining.

“That’s true of most companies, even ones outside of the mining industry that need at least some form of security,” he says. “A lot of companies put retail security guards into an industrial situation, which, when you think about it, is not a good move.”

Cambrian Alliance, which started up in 1987, is in the midst of an aggressive expansion program. Rose currently employs 120 security guards, mostly in northern Ontario mines.

Rose tackles the thorny issue of so-called “trusted employees” head on. He refers to a 1984 speech to the Precious Metals Institute by Carson Fougere, a former Ontario provincial police gold squad officer. “The corruption which is employed is seen when the trusted employees of mines assist in the removal from the work site of precious metals,” said Fougere. “Some trusted employees (workers who are not subject to searches) are a cancer to the security measures that have been taken to protect the shareholders’ investment.”

“I agree,” Rose says. “I recommend in all my operations that security orientation be part of every recruit.”

He says every employee should go through a strict security check before hiring, and then given a clear, concise briefing on how the company’s security system works and what the consequences are if they should get caught trying to get around it.

Mines traditionally argue that trusted employees are necessary because their daily routines would be severely hampered if they were subject to search each time they came up from underground or when they leave the property.

Rose has high praise for a number of mines that have chosen to implement strict security measures. One mine in particular is the Dome gold mine at South Porcupine.

“We spend about half a million dollars a year in salaries alone,” says Dome security chief Bill Tolme. “Our in-house security staff are expected to be well-educated, including having a degree in law enforcement.”

Tolme says the Dome recently instituted a rare blanket-search policy, one of the few gold mines to do so. “Even mine manager Bob Perry is subject to search when he goes through the gates,” Tolme says. “We don’t have any more so-called trusted employees.”

The Kidd Creek base metal and gold mine here budgets about $1 million annually for security measures, said a mine official.

At the other extreme, the Holt- McDermott gold mine in Kirkland Lake, Ont., only has two security guards working around the clock, seven days per week.

“We spend about $100,000 a year, if that,” says Holt-McDermott mine manager John Haflidson. “We have to keep our costs down.”

Rose’s company also stresses the importance of overall security, not just the theft of precious metals.

Mining companies lose tens of thousands of dollars in tools and equipment annually, Rose notes. “Again, it’s a case where the mines don’t appreciate just how much they’re losing,” he says.