by Rob Bergmann

President, Big Rock Exploration

AME ROUNDUP: Innovation, collaboration, DIsruption

The Big Rock team has started this year hard-charging and motivated as ever. Due to the outstanding efforts by our technical field team in 2018 we wanted to create even more opportunity for them to develop beyond the job site, and AME Roundup is an incredible experience to do just that. We’ve got 7 staff in this year’s conference contingency, the most representation we’ve had yet at a premiere industry event.

After the first few days of the conference we’ve taken in dozens of insightful technical talks and have enjoyed some of Vancouver’s best food and drink with many of our industry friends and partners. There is a lot of shared energy about project opportunity in the coming months.

One of the theme’s that has emerged throughout the conference this year is a broad discussion around our industry’s ability to create enduring value amidst a global climate of social, political, and environmental uncertainty. Terms such as innovation, collaboration, and disruption all hint at the notion of needing to change and adapt our business practices in order to create new solutions to the collective challenges we face. We’re encouraged by this trend because it not only elevates the dialogue but it also enables a more open exchange of ideas that we can listen to and learn from. 

The timing of this topic could not be more relevant as we’ve been having this ongoing discussion internally over the years of growing our company and how we can ensure our values are always reflected in our strategy, our stakeholder relationships, and our performance in the marketplace. This year Big Rock is both deepening one of our core strengths as a company as well as putting some new initiatives into action.

First and foremost, the most valuable stakeholder group to our company’s sustainability and future value creation is our people. All of our decision-making as company leaders is filtered through the lens of caring for and empowering our staff. We know that if we create a relationship of mutual trust, respect, and commitment that the business outcomes we seek are then just a matter of putting in the hard work and letting our talent speak for itself. By seeking the right people for our team we foster a culture that values family, personal growth, and economic stability. Our vision for the future is to continue leveraging this special group to not only deliver exceptional results for our clients but to attract and retain the next generation of talent.

Part of putting our people first is making sure we’re not the only ones that get a chance to know them! We brought on another rockstar geologist in 2018 and she’s one of the Big Rock crew making waves at this year’s Roundup. 

Geologist Liz Roepke has been a crucial addition to our team – check out her profile below and keep an eye out for her around Vancouver these next few days. You can also connect with her if you have any upcoming project needs!

Stemming from our continued focus on human capital, we’ve also identified some key areas of improvement, mainly how we can become more transparent and better communicate our strategic approach to value creation. This approach considers the impacts of our business operations on all stakeholder groups, and we take great care in minimizing negative impacts while constantly seeking to add value.

From a high level this means providing our clients, strategic partners, industry peers, future staff members, community leaders, and numerous other stakeholder groups a comprehensive picture of how we aim to navigate risks and innovate solutions to the various challenges we face. From our environmental stewardship, to our community volunteering, to our safety standards and ethical conduct, we’re working on a framework and report that will share our planning and actions to be a great business partner and responsible actor in the global marketplace.

We look forward to sharing more information soon so please stay tuned to our blog and subscribe to our free newsletter, Explore & Discover – Issue No. 5 comes out next week!

If you haven’t already checked out Issue No. 4 of our newsletter, you can read the latest issue for insights on the geologic industry and our future outlook on all things GOLD. 

BIG ROCK STAFF REFLECTION

“We’re encouraged by the sustainability themes that have emerged at this year’s conference; it’s a dialogue we’ve been having internally for years and we’re excited to share our ideas and help lead the way forward.” 

Rob Bergmann, President of Big Rock Exploration