Mining refurbisher to triple in size: Timmins Bucket Shop expanding to new digs.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: TIMMINS

The Bucket Shop is all tapped out.

Its current 26,000-squarefoot shop in the west end of Timmins, where the company manufactures and refurbishes equipment buckets for surface and underground mining, has no more room for office space, phone or Internet lines, bay space, or electrical capacity.

"We've really surpassed the building's ability to house our day-to-day business, and we're currently running double shifts," said general manager Paul Woodward.

"We're working 20 hours a day as it is now, and there's just not enough time or space in the day to get the work done."

But that's changing. The Bucket Shop is currently undergoing a $10-million expansion, which involves the construction of a brand-new facility that's expected to be complete and operational by Christmas.

Expansion of The Bucket Shop's facilities has been on its to-do list for some time. On three previous occasions, the company had planned upgrades, but a dip in the economy gave them pause each time.

"This time around, there's definitely no turning back," Woodward said. "We're definitely committed, based on what you can see there."

What you can see taking shape, just off the main highway through town, is a 65,000-square-foot steel structure that will eventually become The Bucket Shop's fourth and final iteration, according to Woodward.

This marks the third expansion for the company since its inception in 1990. Woodward said the new space will include state-of-the-art technology in ventilation, fume extraction, cutting, and bending.

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"We've really modernized the way that people look at doing buckets," he said.

A centrepiece of the new facility will be a heavy bay, equipped with a 70-tonne overhead crane, which will be one of the largest cranes in the region. It's currently designed to cater specifically to specialty work for the mining industry.

But that's not to say that The Bucket Shop isn't open to reaching out to new clientele or markets.

"When you create a facility like we are, it's hard to say what work may follow, and when industry catches on that this kind of a facility is at their disposal in the North it's hard to say where it may go," Woodward said.

The company used to have to go "banging on doors" to sell its products to clients, but a track record of good work and word-of-mouth referrals now mean that clients are coming to them, Woodward said.

The Bucket Shop has remained : steadily busy through the most recent industry downturn, and with...