On the equipment acquisition side, we’re evaluating some options to help customers bridge the financing and timing gap, and we’ve gotten some good responses from that. We look forward to continuing the conversation with mining projects on how to help.

In the 2023 Fall Economic Statement, the Department of Finance targeted the introduction of legislation on clean economy investment tax credits in early 2024. We closely monitor these tax credits and how they can deliver value to mines and critical mineral projects.

The increased digitization of equipment will help mines deal with a talent deficit.

State-of-the-art equipment increases productivity per worker, shortens the learning curve for new operators and makes mining more attractive to the younger generation.

While the autonomous haulage solutions we have deployed with customers can be leveraged to aid with the talent deficit, it is not the only solution we offer. Technologies such as tele-remote operated equipment can attract employees with different skill sets and increase the ability to mentor a junior operator. Safety systems such as collision awareness can also be introduced to the operation to maximize productivity further while protecting employees and equipment.

Lastly and most importantly, we have successfully attracted and brought people into the industry. We’re particularly proud of the apprenticeship program that our Fort McMurray branch has grown to cohorts with more than 50 apprentices and our strong recruiting results in Timmins, where we are scheduled to unveil our new facility investment in the 2nd half of 2024. This means we have the staff to support our customers anywhere in Canada in various capacities, depending on our customers’ needs – from an all-inclusive maintenance agreement with dedicated staff to a training program for a mine’s operators and maintenance teams. In mining at SMS Equipment, we draw from dedicated pools of resources, so we are all in this together.