TonaTec Exploration LLC
Since opening its doors only five years ago, TonaTec Exploration LLC has earned a well-deserved reputation for high-quality, reliable work. With a management team boasting more than 80 years of combined experience in the industry, it is no surprise the company has enjoyed steady, deliberate growth each year since its inception.
TonaTec is best known for core drilling, directional drilling and consulting services, and focuses 70 percent of its work on gold, and approximately 30 percent on copper and other minerals.
General Manager Steve Bills launched his career 39 years ago by getting his feet wet helping on a rig, eventually working his way up to foreman and operations manager. After spending about 20 years in a management role, Bills broke away from what he saw as a very corporate-oriented company to develop his own business.
Bills, along with two other former colleagues, Paul Horschel and Justin Semadeni, started the new business. Horschel, now the operations manager, boasts 16 years experience in the minerals exploration business, and Semadeni, the current business manager, has 24 years experience in the drilling and specialty drilling service industries. Together, TonaTec’s management team has developed a solid foundation for success.
When TonaTec formed in 2007, it made a name for itself by providing manpower for a variety of clients. It eventually grew to purchase two rigs later that year and one more in 2008. “The first half of 2009 started off pretty slow, and we ran only one rig,” Bills admits.
Today, the company operates six rigs and has one more on order at the moment.
The sluggish economic times of the general economy of 2007/08 provided ideal timing for TonaTec. The increasing number of people turning to gold and its skyrocketing price provided prime conditions for the company to make a name for itself.
When Bills and his colleagues split from their former employers, the ultimate goal was to create a firm best known for quality and service. “When we broke away, the people who came with us were the best in the business,” Bills said. “We go out of our way to keep our employees happy.”
Service First
TonaTec’s customers have come to expect the quality, personalized service it provides, and many have become loyal clients. “We also do a few other technical services that many other companies don’t, but the main reason for our success is the quality of our work and our commitment to service,” Bills says.
Bills attributes the firm’s steady growth to its ability to retain qualified, dedicated employees. “We’ve been very busy over the last few years but TonaTec will only grow as fast as growth can be accomplished without compromising the quality of our work,” he says. “It doesn’t matter how many rigs you have – if you can’t put good people on them, you will not reach the level of success required at TonaTec.”
TonaTec keeps its stellar safety record clean by organizing regular daily and weekly meetings to ensure employees understand the risks of the job and how to work responsibly. “We’re very involved with safety, and we work closely with our employees and clients,” Bills says, adding that he spends nearly half his time working on safety issues.
Although there are few emerging market trends on the horizon, the industry continues to change, requiring TonaTec to continually be on the lookout for ways to adapt to new customer needs and demands. “This industry is changing all time,” Bills says. “Over the years, we have worked with many different kinds of rigs, and believe the rigs of the future will feature more technology, including robotics, making the process much safer as crew members will have less actual body contact with moving equipment.”
Man Up
When TonaTec first opened its doors, many employees were experienced, tenured workers who knew the ropes of a challenging industry. As the company continues to grow, it is starting to hire fewer personnel from other companies and train more from within, with the goal to train them to its standards, and allow them to grow their knowledge and career from within the company. “That is the future of our company,” Bills says. “The personnel who start out with TonaTec see how we do things, and know our expectations. We may also look for people who have some experience in the drilling industry but are not so set in their ways that they can’t learn how we operate.”
The company hopes to continue growing its employee base to prepare itself for growth in the future. “Our employees and my partners are the reason we’ve found success,” Bills says. EMI