It all started with a rock collection in Zambia

Scott Broughton, president, CEO and director of Roca Mines, at the company's MAX Molybdenum Mine Portal. — Photo courtesy Scott Broughton

Scott Broughton's career in mining started out with a childhood rock collection. Fast forward to 2014 and Scott Broughton is CEO of Roca Mines, Santa Fe Metals and Stikine Energy and as of March 2014 is the chair of the Mining Association of British Columbia (MABC). Broughton is a professional mining engineer with 30 years of broad-ranging, hands-on experience on a variety of projects.

He has been involved in every aspect of mining and exploration from corporate development to team building, financing, project management, permitting, development and construction. Broughton is also a recipient of the 2008 Edgar A. Scholz Award for Excellence in Mine Development and the 2009 BC Mining and Sustainability Award.

Mining and Exploration sat down with Broughton to find out all about his passion for rocks, exploration and the industry as a whole.

I've been passionate about collecting rocks since I was a kid. I have quite an extensive collection from all over the world. I was lucky enough as a kid to grow up in Africa and spent a lot of time in Zambia. I had great exposure to all kinds of things there, but obviously as a mining country it was a great place to build a rock collection. As time went by, my family and I moved back to Canada in time for me to finish high school. I had a dad who was a mechanical engineer and so I was prodded towards engineering and technical things, and mining was the most awesome way for me to match those two passions: engineering and rocks and geology.

Like most engineering students, and university students in general, I had summer jobs. Every summer I was lucky enough to have jobs that took me all over Canada in the mining contracting world. Even early on in my career, I was doing deep-shaft sinking projects and underground mine development for some of Canada's best mining contractors. I had lots of fun doing that kind of work. It gave me a great taste of what underground mining was like and what development and contracting was like, but maybe more so it paid a lot of bills as I went through different years of university.

Roca Mines has had its share of ups and downs like many others have experienced. We focus on molybdenum as a mining operation, which as a commodity has suffered over the last several years. But prior to that, the mine ran very well. It employed over 100 people and we won awards for its development from the MABC and also from the Ministry of Mines. It was a really exciting development at the time. I have to admit, it's been painful having to live through the mining cycles and the moves and busts that go with it. It's had a big impact on Roca, but we are seeking solutions for that. I'm still passionate about underground mine development and the Max Mine truly is my baby. I look forward to it having a future.

Because of my passion for rocks and exploration, to me it's a very important part of the mining industry to find deposits. I run a couple of other companies doing some real world-class exploration right now. One of them is Sante Fe Metals, which is currently drilling for a very exciting target. We are looking for another Sullivan Mine located right close to Cranbrook. There are some awesome geophysical gravity targets there. We just completed one drill hole and we think we're going to be onto a massive discovery with the next one, which is very exciting for us.

My other company, Stikine Energy, is a project focused on the search and development of frac sand in the Horn River Basin, Cordova Embayment, Slave Point Platform and Montney Basin in northeast B.C. We are very tightly focused on this opportunity. We see the opportunity to serve the gas industry by producing a local supply. Most of our frac sand comes from Wisconsin, Texas and other faraway places. We want to capture this demand for frac sand and make it locally here in B.C.

I'd have to admit, the Max molybdenum mine was a great accomplishment. I take a lot of pride in the fact that I was at the top of a relatively small group of people that permitted a new mine in the province where one didn't exist before. I invested an awful lot of money in its development, gainfully employed a lot of people contributing to the local economy there and it still feels like my baby. It put us on the map as being a producer in the province. I was invited to join the MABC as a producer back then, which gave me great exposure to the association. From 2007 I was a member of the executive committee and now I'm chair of the board of directors. I'm very very honoured to be nominated by my colleagues for this position.

Despite the cyclical nature of this industry, the good times are really good. The rest of the time I'm still just as passionate about finding more opportunities. I want to find and add value to the resources that belong to all of us here in B.C. Resources are for everyone here. They generate a lot of revenue for the government to spend on hospitals and schools and for all the things we need to thrive. We really want to heighten people's awareness about how important our industry really is, because it's for everyone.