Providing science and engineering to mining - Mesabi Daily News

VIRGINIA — Northeast Technical Services (NTS) is looking to make the Iron Range a net exporter of science and engineering.

Locally owned, NTS has been around since 1985.

The company is co-owned by Rick Crum, company president and Mike Stone, business manager. It has corporate offices on Chestnut Street in Virginia and a laboratory in the city’s industrial park.

The company markets itself as the Iron Range’s only locally-based, full-service environmental science and engineering company. It is involved in all aspects of engineering — from making, to managing and using data.

Crum said NTS is pro-mining, and is also an environmental and engineering company.

”Our position is that all mining should proceed and rely on science and engineering to make sure it’s done correctly,” he said.

The mining lab at NTS is a unique facility to the east end of the Iron Range. Crum noted there’s one other mining lab in Hibbing.

“The hope is to develop on this end and be a lab of choice for the Iron Range and beyond,” he added.

The company’s mine lab was borne out of a desire to obtain data from the mining and energy or geotechnical components and do it in-house. Prior to opening this lab, NTS had been contracting with a major testing firm, which only focused on environmental testing.

Mining companies make up the majority of the company’s clientele, with the bulk being of taconite and non-ferrous mining. But samples come from all over the country, and represent all types of mining, according to Crum.

NTS mining personnel are trained in a wide range of physical and chemical testing procedures.

A wide variety of materials are tested and analyzed at the facility. NTS also contracts with a suite of laboratories.

Don Bird heads up the mining and energy division, and John Tamminen oversees construction quality control.

Most of the mines in the area have laboratories on site that are related to producing their product, according to Crum. An independent party, such as NTS, is called in for tests that are required to be external.

In a recent behind-the-scenes look at NTS corporate headquarters, Crum pointed out that many of the offices are empty during the day as field scientist and engineers are out in the environment. Each morning they head out with equipment, including coolers and pumps, to gather samples and data in the field.

Those in the office at that time included Matt Beyer, a geological engineer is processing field and laboratory reports. He was working to validate information and enter it into a database.

Operations Manager Bruce Trebnick is responsible for taking the information from the database to ensure quality, reliable test results.

Services offered by NTS to mining companies goes beyond required compliance tests. NTS is also involved with construction quality control and cleanup of historic mine sites, to name a few. They also work with mining companies planning for future use of current sites through mineland reclamation.

Crum pointed out the clean-up sites are truly “historic” and aren’t issues experienced with modern mining operations.

NTS is presently conducting quality control testing sites at three different mine sites and two dam sites and conducting infrastructure quality control testing at a third, according to Tamminen.

The company also provides services to the energy industry, power plants, wood or coal burning biomass, and public utility electrical producers.

Data processed at the NTS lab can provide information on the efficiency of energy sources.

The workload at the lab varies, depending on the time of year and the ups and downs of the mining industry. During busier times, clients may submit as many as a couple hundred samples at once.

NTS presently has 40 employees, plus some that are temporary. The company has experienced a yearly growth of around 10 percent, with the exception of the 2015-2016 year, according to Crum.

When recruiting for professional positions, Crum said NTS targets local students studying at four-year colleges. The company has found there’s better retention when hiring people from the area. Those from here tend to have a better understanding of the mining economy and a higher stake than just a job, said Crum.

NTS has also has a long-time relationship with the water resources program at Vermilion Community College in Ely and hires interns from the Iron Range Engineering program at Mesabi Range College.

The future of the Iron Range as a major exporter of science and engineering is dependent on the mining industry, Crum said while noting that the environmental science involved with modern mining didn’t exist years ago.

The educational component of a renewed focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) classes at the high school level will help build resources for the Iron Range to be an exporter again of science and engineering services.

“At the end of the day, without mining, it all goes away,” said Crum. “It’s unlikely we’ll become a science and engineering area by developing apps for cell phones.”