Virginia, MN January 12, 2012 – IDEA Drilling has provided scholarship money to area schools, including the Virginia High School, Mesabi Range Community and Technical College (MRCTC), Hibbing Community College (HCC), and Vermillion Community College (VCC). The scholarships are intended to help deserving students pursue their career dreams.
“IDEA Drilling is committed to giving back to our communities, and especially in supporting education,”said IDEA President Bill Travis. “We believe our teachers and educational institutions play an important role in building a stronger Range workforce and economy in the future. These scholarships are part of our broader plan to invest in our communities and to say thanks for all the support we receive.” The company has received great feedback from the local schools receiving the funds. “What a wonderful surprise! The VCC Foundation is very grateful to IDEA Drilling for the offer of the scholarships. Thank you so much,” said Executive Director for the VCC Foundation Patti Zupancich.
Together, the scholarships to the four schools will equal $5,000 annually. To apply for the scholarships, students should contact the appropriate school for more information.
IDEA Drilling is a core drilling services company headquartered in Virginia, MN. IDEA supports the core drilling needs of area mineral exploration and mining companies. The company has experienced significant growth in revenues and employee base over the last two years as a result of the investment activity in copper/nickel exploration and the strong market condition for iron ore mining.
IDEA Drilling has experienced significant revenue growth over the last couple of years, primarily as a result of the copper/nickel mineral exploration activities in northeast Minnesota and Michigan UP. IDEA’s shareholders made several significant investments in 2011 to capitalize on the market opportunities and to build a stronger business for the long-term. IDEA purchased 4 new drill rigs during the year to increase its fleet to 18 drill rigs. IDEA also added a number of experienced people to its team and has increased its employee base from 80 at the beginning of 2011 to nearly 140 in January 2012. All of the new jobs added were for Minnesota employees. In November 2011, IDEA completed the construction of a 7200 sf storage building at its Virginia, MN headquarters. This facility will be primarily used to store inventories and equipment out of the weather.
IDEA’s shareholders and management team are committed to being the premier exploration services and core drilling company in the midwest by providing high quality, innovative and cost effective services to our customers. We are also committed to being a proactive partner in building a stronger communities on the Iron Range. To that end, IDEA will continue to invest in its business, its people, and its communities in 2012.
The St. Louis County Board has passed a resolution in support of nonferrous mining. The vote passed by a 4-3 margin as the Morse townhall was packed with both supporters and those against. Read More from Mesabi Daily News.
The full text of the resolution is below:
“Be it resolved that the St. Louis County Board declares its support for the existing open, transparent and comprehensive environmental review and permitting process in place for various non-ferrous mining initiatives currently planned for development in St. Louis County, Minnesota, and supports the success of these projects, contingent upon the approval of all federal and state environmental permits necessary for these projects to move forward.”
“We believe the nonferrous projects will provide much needed jobs and can be done in a way to protect our environment. The jobs potential is not just current jobs for construction and the future mines, but provides jobs for supporting companies like IDEA and provides much needed business for our vendors and suppliers, and the many other service, retail and restaurant businesses in our communities. Furthermore, the nonferrous projects provide long-term job opportunities for our youth and a better financial foundation for area families. We also believe in the individuals who are leading the environmental agencies and the investing mineral exploration and mining companies … we are confident that these people can and will work together to ensure that the necessary environmental permits are achieved and the necessary processes are in place to protect the long-term health of the beautiful northwoods and to retain air and water quality in our region.”
IDEA Drilling has retained Marty Vadis, former Director of the DNR Division of Lands and Minerals, as an environmental adviser for the Company. Vadis will assist IDEA in enhancing the environmental business practices of its drilling operations. Vadis will also assist with customer projects and regulatory relations activities. Dick Backstrom, IDEA Chairman and CEO, reports “We are excited to have Marty join our team. His expertise and professionalism will help us deliver on our commitment to environmental stewardship as we continue to grow our business for the long-term benefit of our customers, employees, shareholders, vendors and community.”
IDEA Drilling appreciates the support of the communities and the state in which we operate and are committed to being a responsible and proactive investor in those communities. In particular, we appreciate the support of the Iron Range Resources Board and the City of Virginia. We are active in Mining Minnesota, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and a number of other industry associations. We are expanding our support of local community activities by constantly looking for ways to be a valued partner with our local government, charities and business. Recently, IDEA Drilling provided a contribution to the Veterans War Memorial to be constructed in Virginia, MN that will ensure the matching contribution from the City is received.
IDEA Drilling is a proud sponsor of the Great River Energy Mesabi Trail Tour 2011 on August 13, 2011. Proceeds go to the Mesabi Trail and AMPERS.
IDEA Drilling has 17 core drilling rigs with a wide range of capabilities. Our objective is to keep our fleet up to date to allow us to take advantage of the newest technologies, to help drive efficiency, and to ensure we are environmentally responsible. Our fleet includes 4 new Atlas Copco drill rigs: 2 CT20s, a CS14 and a CT14.
IDEA Drilling – Deep holes and wedging from a barge on a lake in Minnesota
IDEA Drilling – Winter drilling in Michigan
IDEA Drilling - New Atlas Copco CT-20 on Drill Site
Drilling operations in the field require timely, effective and efficient support to ensure we are able to meet drilling expectations. IDEA Drilling continues to enhance and expand our Virginia, Minnesota facility to ensure we are able to support our growing operations. IDEA recently completed a new parts room to provide more effective and efficient control over our repair parts inventories. This fall, IDEA will construct an additional cold storage building at our Virginia location to be used for drill rods and core boxes, as well as other supplies that do not require heated storage. This will allow IDEA to store critical inventory out of the weather and will afford additional space for the expanding needs of our repair and fabrication activities.
It is critical that our project management personnel as well as consumable and repair parts be located near our customer projects. IDEA Drilling recently opened an office and parts facility in the Ely, MN area to more locally and efficiently service several of our larger client projects.
IDEA Drilling is committed to achieving value added growth to our business that creates value for our shareholders, opportunities for our employees, and additional employment for our community. To that end, we continue to add employees to our drilling operations and additional expertise and experience to our business. Since November 2010, our employee count has increased approximately 50% to over 100 employees. In November 2010, Bill Travis joined IDEA Drilling as President to partner with Dick and Pam Backstrom and Brian McCabe to continue the growth and prosperity of the business. In June 2011, Tom Karges joined IDEA as Chief Financial Officer and Chuck Wilson joined IDEA as the Project Supervisor for the Twin Metals and Duluth Metals projects.
IDEA Drilling has provided exceptional core drilling and surveying services for over a decade. IDEA is rapidly growing and utilizing the most advanced drilling and surveying technology available, saving our clients time and money. We also employ the wedge drilling technique, allowing us to take multiple core samples from a single hole. Idea has the products, tools, service, and expertise to handle both underground and surface-based projects. More About Us
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