New hirees join Calcite management team

by Peter Jakey– Managing Editor

O-N Minerals of Rogers City recently added two new employees to its management team. Joe Chevreaux, who will be the new general manager, has been at the Calcite Plant for about a month. Ray LeClair, general manager of process improvement, has only been on the job for O-N for only two weeks.

While both men were working for different companies in other areas of the country, they bring a combined 67 years of mining experience to Calcite. Chevreaux had been at Vulcan Materials of Houston, Texas, before a recruiting firm contacted him about the position in Rogers City. The mining industry has been part of his life since he was 16. ?My background is that I am a registered mining engineer,? said Chevreaux. ?This is all I have ever done. I grew up in the business.? His primary duties will be the management of the Calcite Plant. ?My job is to bring on line here knowledge I have learned from the outside,? he said.

One of his focuses will be bringing the current equipment up to the current trends in the industry, so O-N Minerals can remain aggressive in the market.

?OGLEBAY NORTON has made a commitment to modernize the limestone operations they have acquired here,? said Chevreaux, who preferred renting a place in town rather than stay at the guest house. In four weeks, the one thing that has stood out to him is that the crew at Calcite is one of the harder working groups he has encountered.

?They have a vested interest in this place doing well, because this is where they live, this is what they do,? said Chevreaux. While Chevreaux has the general manager?s nameplate on his door, his public relation skills seem to come naturally. Commenting on the company re-emerging from bankruptcy reorganization, he seized the moment to toot the company?s horn.

?Not only did they rise above it, they did some things that were absolutely extraordinary in the industry,? said Chevreaux. ?When Oglebay Norton came out of the bankruptcy they paid off every debt they owed. Their bankruptcy gave them time to reorganize and they never stiffed a creditor.? High praise for a company he has been with for only a month. LECLAIR HAS ties to northeast Michigan. He lived in the Village of Black River and graduated from Alcona High School in 1972. LeClair had been working at E.R. Jahna of Florida before relocating to northern Michigan. He has only been with O-N Minerals since April 16. ?My principal job will be to help update and bring in some new equipment, some new methods of mining, new methods of delivering material to the processing plant, and help bring it into operations for the ne

xt number of decades,? said LeClair. He will be working with plant manager John Nordin at not only trying to assess the needs of Calcite but throughout the entire Great Lakes Division. ?Obviously, this is an older operation,? said LeClair. ?It has been here for a number of years. It has been a very good operation, but the equipment is getting old and outdated.?

A capital investment of $3.5 million was made to replace a loader at the plant, but it is going to take considerably more money for the company to make upgrades, especially if officials target the replacement of the 70 to 80 year old primary crusher.

?The plant has to keep operating to meet its market,? said LeClair. ?That is going to be a big area.? He said the suppliers don?t make parts for it anymore and countless hours are spent rebuilding the equipment before the beginning of another season. ?It is a costly undertaking,? he added.